The new Australian Baseball League franchise from New Zealand announced their name, logo, manager and venue for the 2018/2019 season. The team will be known as Auckland Tuatara with the nick name coming from reptile. All 12 home games will be played at McLeod Park in Auckland. Next year the team will move to QBE Stadium in Albany, which is supposed to be there longterm home. Former Adelaide Bite manager Steve Mintz will take over as manager of Auckland Tuatara during their first season. He is currently coaching in the Texas Rangers organization. The coaching staff also will include DJ Carrasco and Darren Bragg.
Geelong from Korea will be the second expansion team in the Australian Baseball League.