by Michal Hanus
On Sunday April 11th the Czech Baseball Extraleague will start. The big change is in the lineup of the league. After two years the Patriots Liberec and Tempo Titans Prague, which were a participant since its start in 1993 got relegated at the end of last year. These teams will be replaced by Hrosi Navisys Brno and Kotlarka Praha. Especially Kotlarka Praha could be the surprise of the 2010 Extraleague.
The format of the Extraleague was changed again with the teams playing 28 games in a round robin during the regular season phase. Six teams will reach the playoffs, which start at the end of August and the winner of the Czech Baseball Extraleague will be known no later than in November 16th.
{mrb-schedule:2010-04-11|2010-04-12|CZ}
AVG Draci Brno
In 2009 AVG Draci Brno won its 15th consecutive title as well as the Czech Cup last fall. The 2010 season will be a busy time for Draci, as the team will be delivering almost the complete roster to the Czech national team. They have set up strong goals with the biggest hopes to qualify for the European Cup Final Four and obviously winning a 16th title in the Czech Republic. The team will be lead by head coach Arnost Nesnal. Some changes on the roster were done. Five players left during the winter – Winkler, Toufar, Chroust, Papez and Dubovy which will play for MZLU Express. From MZLU Express comes Kremlacek and Jelinek. Australian star Wayne Ough and player/coach Greg McCarthy will remain with the club. Like last year Pat Ahearne will reinforce Draci for European Cup. Draci will use a pitching rotation of Martin Schneider, Petr Minarik, Vojtech Jelinek, Radek Prochazka, Wayne Ough and Pavel Budsky.
Author’s choice: Draci will win title again.
Arrows Ostrava
The 2009 vice champion Arrows Ostrava will begin the season without their Philipines pair – head coach Edgar Delos Reyes and pitcher Jon Jon Robles. Another pitching star Boris Bokaj and national team catcher Petr Cech left Arrows and reinfored Legionaere Regensbug. And finally Jan Rehacek which reinforced Arrows for play-offs 2009 will start his second season in Minor League. The team was reinforced by one import from USA which played in the Eltodo Cup last week. Another reinforce is in the coaching staff, as Vit Dockal is returning back to Arrows after years abroad. Vit was also appointed as coach of the Canadian downhill skiing team!
The pitching staff will contain Jiri Gal, Zdenek Votava, Vojtech Jurdzin. Thanks to the leaving two top pitchers we can expect that another young prospect will get more time on the mound.
Author’s choice: Arrows are expecting tough season, with the semi-finals to be considered as a success. Thanks to their excellent youth program, we can expect some new young stars in Czech Baseball. Could it be 16-year-old catcher Michael Vykoukal?
Technika Brno
Jakub Vancura has definitely left Technika Brno, as he will pitch for Kotlarka Praha and will also help the Tempo Titans on the mound. Also no longer on the team is Ondrej Navrkal, who returned back to his home team Black Hill Blansko. From Blansko is coming Jan Oralek and from Draci arrives Jan Marek. For now we haven’t clear information whether all three Australian players will continue to wear the Technika uniform.
Author’s choice: If Cunningham and Bumpstead remain on the Technika roster, the finals for Technika could become reality; otherwise the semi-finals will be a success.
Eagles Praha
The Eagles Praha are the big unknown in the Czech Baseball community. The coaching staff was completely changed, as Richard Kania left the A team and now he is coaching U18 (juniors) team which will a play regional league with the main goal to qualify for the Ceskomoravska League. The Extraleague team is now coached by the two Eagles top pitchers Jakub Jonak and Jan Homolka. Everybody will see how this structure will work and if Jan and Jakub will find enough time for practice on the mound. Last weekend during the Eltodo Cup the Eagles presented a very young, but talented team. After several years in Liberec, former Eagles pitcher Richard Prokop is back. Catcher Basilio Barrios and Dominik Benatcan have left the club for Kotlarka Praha.
Author’s choice: This team needs more time playing top baseball to gain experience, so expectations are for fourth and sixth in the standings, but surprises can be expected.
Skokani Olomouc
Skokani will start the season with only one new player, as starting pitcher Lukas Josefus came from the relegated Tempo Titans. Jakub Vojak left to move to the German Bundesliga team Saarlouis Hornets. They also tried to find players in oversees, but didn’t find the right people. National team pitcher Vojtech Holicky became the new head coach and also will lead the team on the mound. Additionally Dolezel, Vesely and Zdrazil will be in the pitching rotation this year.
Author’s choice: They will probably together with Hrosi Brno play play-out series against the best teams from Ceskomoravska Baseball League.
MZLU Express Brno
MZLU signed a strategic contract with the youth team Pipas Brno, so Express can use own youth for future, which is really a step forward for the team. Regarding the changes on the roster, the usual offseason exchange with Draci Brno brought Express interesting names. They get reinforced by pitchers Jakub Toufar and Vojtech Papez, also David Winkler, catcher of the national team, and catcher’s coach will be the Express star for 2010. Another new players for Express are Premek Chroust and Arnost Dubovy. From Express to Draci went U21 national team pitcher Vojtech Jelinek and another young prospect Michael Kremlacek.
Author’s choice: A top four position in the final standings could be in reach. With this roster a semi-final berth should be possible.
Hrosi Navisys Brno
The winner of the Ceskomoravska Baseball League 2009 Hrosi Brno, which had success mainly at the youth level, will play Extraleague for the first time in club history. The team was reinforced by Ben Hilterbrand from Draci Brno. On the official Hrosi’s website they announced new pitcher Alberto Hernandez, pitcher/coach Nicholas Talbot and coach Paris Schapire. The team is managed by club co-founder Tomas Ovesny, who will mainly rely on youth prospects. For Hrosi it will be a tough rookie season. Hrosi participated in the Warm Up Cup last weekend and finished last. Although it was only preseason tournament, Hrosi must present itself with a better performance to qualify for the playoffs and to avoid a play-out series to play-off.
Author’s choice: Hrosi will fight with Skokani for spot in Extraleague 2011.
Kotlarka Praha
Kotlarka Praha, which always had an excellent youth program started to build a seniors team two years ago. Young prospects are mixed with experience Extraleague players. Since last season Mike Griffin is coaching the team. The main goal for 2009 was accomplished and the team from Prague can look forward to their first Extraleague season. The team was very active on the transfer market during the winter. They brought in Basilio Barrios, a catcher from the Eagles, and another Eagles prospect Dominik Benatcan. The pitching staff was reinforced with former Eagles veteran Vladimir Kus. From Regensburg came back Jakub Sladek. Additionally nobody important has left the club before the 2010 season. They also will have their second team in the Ceskomoravska Baseball League, where they play almost only young prospects which are waiting for their chance in the Extraleague.
Author’s choice: Kotlarka will be a rookie in the 2010 Extraleague, but they will not have problems to be promoted to the semifinal and nobody would be surprised, if Kotlarka will be in the final!
Author’s choice is only subjective rating of article author.