Head Coach Greg Frady visited several German Baseball-Bundesliga games since last Thursday and selected 40 players for a preliminary roster for the 38th Baseball World Cup afterwards. Assistant Coach Jesco Veisz announced the team on Monday afternoon.
Reigning champion BUCHBINDER LEGIONAERE REGENSBURG has ten players on the team, the SOLINGEN ALLIGATORS six and the HEIDENHEIM HEIDEKOEPFE five. Five of the 40 aren’t playing in Germany currently, as Kai Gronauer, Donald Lutz and Jennell Hudson are under contract by Major League organizations, Andre Hughes by the Dutch Hoofdklasse club HCAW MR COCKER and Moritz Sckaer played at a college in the US. Jendrick Speer leads all selected players with 64 appearances.
The coaching staff surprised everyone by adding the Bundesliga veteran infielders Octavio Medina and Edward Martinez to the roster. Both received a German passport recently and are among the hit leaders in Bundesliga history. But obviously they aren’t the youngest players anymore. Medina came from Mexico to Germany and is 37 years old. Martinez is from the Dominican Republic and 35. Also a surprise is the selection of starting pitcher Manuel Moeller of the MAINZ ATHLETICS, who had announced his non-participation in the World Cup during the winter months, as his exams are this fall.
The German national team will kick off preparations for the Baseball World Cup at the World Baseball Challenge in Prince George, British Columbia against seven other teams, including Teams USA, China and Canada from July 16 to 26 (official website).
Complete 40-Man Roster:
Kai Gronauer (Savannah Sand Gnats), Donald Lutz (Cincinnati Reds), Jennell Hudson (Boston Red Sox), Martin Almstetter, Benedikt Antwi, Cedric Bassel, Rodney Gessmann, Ludwig Glaser, Philipp Hoffschild, Christopher Howard, Philipp Howard, Klaus Hopfensperger, Alexander Lauterbach (all Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg), Sebastian Bernards, Jens Cornelsen, Robin Drache, Enorbel Ramirez-Marquez, Julian Steinberg, Dominik Wulf (all Solingen Alligators), Maximilian Boldt, Nils Hartkopf, Manuel Moeller (all Mainz Athletics), Peter Dankerl, Robert Gruber, Simon Gühring, Andreas Janzen, Markus Winkler (all Heidenheim Heidekoepfe), Martin Dewald, Rene Franke, Sascha Lutz (all Mannheim Tornados), Michael Franke, Octavio Medina, Jendrick Speer, Julius Uelschen (all Paderborn Untouchables), Dirk Fries, Michael Stephan (both Haar Disciples), Tim Henkenjohann (Bonn Capitals), Edward Martinez (Saarlouis Hornets), Moritz Sckaer (US College), Andre Hughes (Mr. Cocker Bussum/Netherlands)