Defending Swedish champion Karlskoga Bats announced at the beginning of February that they are losing three foreign players and will replace them with three new ones. Brothers Bryce and Jason Enewold will not come back. Eimantes Zickus is expected to remain for most of the season in Lithuania according to the report on the team website. To replace the key players they are bringing in Canadian shortstop Lee Darracott, Canadian southpaw with British passport Paul Waterman and the Japanese pitcher/infielder Kenta Sato.
Darracott is 25 years old. He went to Vernon College and got selected in the 39th round of the 2006 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants, although he didn’t sign. Waterman played in the German Baseball-Bundesliga in the past and spent the winter in South Africa. Sato played from 2002 to 2009 in the United States, including stints at college and the independent New York State League. He currently is playing in Australia.