ORLANDO – Mistakes were costly on both sides, but the Atlanta Braves were able to really take advantage of their second chances as they erased an early deficit and held on for a 4-2 win over the Junior National Team during Spring Training action.
ORLANDO – The Junior National Team opened their Spring Training Camp schedule against the Houston Astros and held their own until the fifth inning when the Astros broke the game open and never looked back as they would go on to defeat the Canadians 11-0.
OTTAWA – On April 11th, Baseball Canada President Ray Carter was invited to Opening Day of the Tsawwassen Amateur Baseball Association’s season. The Municipality of Delta had built a new midget field and wanted one of the most distinguished baseball people in Canada to attend.
OTTAWA - Baseball Canada announced the Junior National Team roster which will be making its way to Orlando, Florida at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex for the Spring Training Camp from April 16th to 26th. 32 players have been invited to the spring camp, including Jake Eliopoulos (Newmarket, ON) who is the highest ranked Canadian high school prospect for the upcoming MLB First Year Player Draft in June. The junior team will hold daily practices while in Florida as well as play eight games against Major League Baseball affiliated teams. Included in their schedule are games against the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals. “This camp will allow our coaching staff the opportunity to evaluate all players in a highly competitive environment,” says Greg Hamilton, Baseball Canada’s Director of National Teams and manager of the Junior National Team. “The strides taken at this camp will better prepare our team for success internationally at future competitions.” The Spring Training camp is part of a two year process toward establishing a club for the 2010 World Junior Championship which will take place in Thunder Bay, Ontario. 12 players included on the spring roster are from Ontario, while 10 hail from British Columbia. Québec and Alberta have each three team members representing their respective province while two players hail from Manitoba. Saskatchewan and New Brunswick each have one player attending the camp. For the players, the training camp will not only offer them the chance to improve skills but will also provide plenty of exposure, as several college and professional scouts will use the training camp as an opportunity for talent evaluation. RosterSchedulePitching Rotation
OTTAWA - Former Senior National Team member and former Texas Rangers closer Jeff Zimmerman has signed a minor-league deal with the Seattle Mariners. The Carsland, Alberta native has not pitched in the Major Leagues since the 2001 season. He suffered an elbow injury the following spring and has undergone two Tommy John surgeries since. The Baseball Canada Alumni Award winner reached 90 mph during a recent workout, which was good enough for the Mariners to pick him and allow him to continue his comeback. Zimmerman made his Major League debut in 1999 where he got off to a fantastic start, beginning the season with a 9-0 record and going 26 consecutive appearances without allowing a run, both of which are Texas Rangers team records. In 2001, the now 36-year-old took over the closer’s role for the Rangers where he would amass 28 saves, including 17 straight to close out the season. Zimmerman will report to Peoria, Arizona at the Mariners Extended Spring Training facility prior to being assigned to a Mariners’ Minor League affiliate.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) today announced that it is moving forward with an addendum to its original submission to the International Olympic Committee, which will propose to add baseball as a women’s discipline for the 2016 games. The addendum is expected to be submitted to the IOC no later than May 1, 2009. “There has been a great amount of talk about adding women’s baseball over the past year, but recently the growth of the sport in places where baseball is already popular, as well as the request by new federations to increase the number of young girls playing in baseball, has led us to move ahead and amend our 2016 proposal,” says Dr. Harvey Schiller, President of the IBAF. “We have shown that baseball is a sport for all, and the addition of a women’s discipline for the Olympics…which will take the place of our women’s World Cup in 2016…only further illustrates that point.” Currently over 30 of the IBAF’s 128 member Federations have a full discipline for women, although almost all have combined programs for boys and girls through at least age ten. The addition of women’s discipline would likely double the number of federations offering a full women’s discipline in the next year, and will increase the number of countries eligible for the Women’s World Cup in 2010. The Women’s Baseball World Cup was held in Japan in 2008, with the host country defeating Canada in the final before a near-capacity crowd. The host of the 2010 World Cup will be announced in the coming months, with no less than eight nations interested in hosting the event.The IBAF is also in the process of finalizing a committee of sports executives who will work specifically on the growth of the women’s discipline worldwide. The committee will include Sandra Monteiro, the president of Baseball Portugal, as well as André Lachance of Baseball Canada and others. The IBAF has also received very enthusiastic support on the issue from both Major League Baseball in the United States and the Japanese Professional Leagues. Currently over 500,000 young women play baseball around the world, with the number growing exponentially every year. Two weeks ago, Eri Yoshida became the first female to pitch in Japanese professional baseball, striking out the first batter she faced and touching off an immediate growth of young Japanese women interested in baseball.
OTTAWA – Baseball Canada announces that the Saskatoon Minor Baseball Association has become the fourth amateur baseball association in Canada to be RBI Approved as they are officially recognized as “Reaching Baseball Ideals.” “We are truly honoured to be one of the first few associations to be recognized in this program,” says Geoff Hughes, Minor Division Supervisor with Baseball Saskatoon. “When we looked at the criteria to be approved, I said why haven’t we already done this?” Baseball Saskatoon initiated the pitch count in the Peewee Division for the 2008 season and will expanded it to the Mosquito and Bantam divisions for 2009. That was the final hurdle to their becoming RBI Approved. The association also has their coaching staffs for each provincial and elite level teams meet the coaching certification requirements of Baseball Canada. The house league teams must also have at least one coach certified at the appropriate level of the NCCP. The association has also established the Rally Cap program in their Rookie Division for several years, which has helped increase the number of girls playing baseball in the region. Hughes says that being RBI Approved will now help Baseball Saskatoon grow and promote the game to even greater lengths. “This stamp from Baseball Canada shows that we are offering quality services and that we comply to a national standard.” For 2009, RBI accreditations are awarded to local baseball associations that comply with the minimum operating standards in these four areas: · Development Programs · Membership with Baseball Canada · Coaches Training · Accessibility An Association can become a Baseball Canada RBI Approved Association in 2009 by meeting these following criteria: · The Association is a member in good standing with the Provincial Baseball Association (as recognized by Baseball Canada) and with Baseball Canada through the registration of all players, coaches and umpires participating in the local Association. · The Association is fully utilizing the Rally Cap program as the main Initiation program for kids between 5 and 8 · The Association is providing support to its coaches by driving them to the Baseball Canada NCCP Programs ensuring that all Rep level coaches are properly certified as per Baseball Canada requirements and that all house league/community programs have at least one coach per team who have completed the Initiation Coach level at minimum · The Association is providing access to all programs to boys and girls at any age · The Association is in support and using the Baseball Canada pitch counts for the Mosquito and Pee-Wee divisions In order to become a RBI Approved association for 2009, simply send an email to rbi@baseball.ca addressing all the criteria mentioned above. Baseball Canada will contact you to approve your Association or to ask additional questions.
OTTAWA – Traditionally, baseball board games involved trivia questions and throwing an object at a target to get the desired result. But two Canadians have developed a new way of playing a baseball game which brings the reality of the sport to life. The new game is called Xtra innings and is described on the website (xtrainningsgame.com) as matching “wits with your opponent in a baseball card/board game that duplicates the classic confrontation between PITCHER and HITTER, or OFFENSE and DEFENSE.” The new game is developed in a style of a brain teaser and its creator François Doré was looking to develop something that would keep players coming back for more. “I wanted to create a baseball game while eliminating the dice from the equation,” says Doré. “The idea came when I saw kids play Warcraft and I saw how involved in the game they were.” The game involves a unique “Pitch Sequence” where the player chooses every pitch. The game’s website describes it as “baseball chess with a touch of poker.” A nine inning “game” can be completed in less than two hours and recreates the strategy and intensity of the real thing. Doré would then approach Dwight Baird with the idea and he saw the potential in the game. “François came to my house, sat down at my kitchen table and asked me to take a look at an idea he had for a baseball card/board game,” says Baird, who is now President of Xtra innings. “He showed me the idea for the basic ‘Pitching Sequence’, which I thought was pretty interesting, and asked me if I would be interested in helping him develop the rest of the game with him.” The game is the closest thing to really playing baseball on the field than there is on the market and it can create a bonding experience between family members as Doré explains. “When we were testing the game, we brought in a 12-year-old boy and his father to play. They had a great time and we asked them about the game and the kid said ‘it’s like playstation, you manage the game, you select every pitch but the difference is you’re not sitting in front of the TV.’ And his father was proud because now they have something they can share.” But soon they came to realize during initial testing that the game they developed was missing a core part of the demographic they wanted to attract. “At first, we developed the game to resemble as close as possible, the actual playing of a real baseball game; incorporating all the plays and strategies one would fine on the diamond,” says Baird. “At one point, we began to realize the game we had developed, because it featured every play possible in baseball, was perhaps a bit overwhelming for younger and more novice players.” With that in mind, Doré and Baird developed the “Little League Edition” within the original Xtra innings game. The premise of the “Pitch Sequence” remains the same but without all the complications of “Check Swings”, “Hit ‘n’ Run”, “Squeeze Play”, “Foul Ball” and many others. “This edition of the game involves a lot more action and excitement for kids- more home runs, triples and doubles - and less of the strategy of base-running,” says Baird. When Baird and Doré came to the Baseball Canada offices to present their idea to Director General Jim Baba and Baseball Operations Manager André Lachance, they were impressed with the game and proceeded to strike a partnership agreement with Xtra innings. “For us, it is great to have Baseball Canada's seal of approval and support for the game, because it gives us immediate credibility in the Canadian marketplace, and hopefully, easier access to a core group of baseball fans in Canada,” says Baird. “We assume the members of Baseball Canada are all baseball fans and involved in some way, with baseball, so hopefully we can tap into this, get their interest. We see this as a great way to establish a primary test market for our new game.” To find out more about this great new baseball game, go to www.xtrainningsgame.com.
With attention spans of a couple minutes, the stereotypical image of four and five-year-olds on the baseball field includes kids picking daisies and staring up at the blue sky, waiting for the ball to come their way. So to keep younger players more engaged and start skill development earlier, Ridge Meadows Minor Baseball decided to mix it up a bit and is offering its third season of Rally Cap, in which kids play short games and practice baseball skills. Rally Cap was a grassroots initiative that came out of Baseball Canada. In 2005, Baseball B.C. tried the first pilot at North Delta Minor Baseball, and Ridge Meadows came on board the next year in 2007. In Rally Cap, three teams come out to the field: the visitor, home team and the outfield. While two teams with six or seven players each play a short game, the third team practices skill development in the outfield. The three teams play two 20-minute games and have a 20-minute practice. There are still a lot of "historical hurdles" keeping clubs from introducing Rally Cap - traditional T-ball programs have been around for 100 years as the entry-level program and are well entrenched into minor baseball. "It keeps the kids more engaged and active for the time period that they're at the park," said David Laing, executive director of Baseball B.C. Last year, Ridge Meadows had 190 kids aged four and five playing rally cap, while the six-year-olds moved on to the more traditional T-ball - Super-T - format. The team leaders - the coaches - use props to help kids learn basic baseball skills: badminton birdies, hula hoops, squishy balls. Laing estimated that 15 to 20 clubs in B.C. have started a Rally Cap program. While the program is normally geared toward three- and four-year-olds, Laing said even a mini-tad program could be turned into Rally Cap as well. The program and its structure benefits the players, the coaches and the parents, Laing said. With six children on the field for a 20-minute game, there aren't a lot of kids getting bored in the outfield. Often kids at this level won't hit the ball out of the in-field, Laing said, "so (outfield players) are chasing butterflies or building sandcastles." Some kids find it boring, and at this stage might be more attracted to soccer and lacrosse, which are more action-oriented, he added. In addition, parents might not think it's enough physical activity for the children and therefore go for other sports where kids run around more. The coaches are often parent volunteers at that level and many haven't ever played baseball. The game can be overwhelming because it is so skill specific. The Rally Cap program comes with week-by-week recommended practice plans, so even a brand-new coach doesn't have to be an expert and can get a good program going. A T-ball game can eat up a few hours of an evening with six innings, but a Rally Cap program is done in one hour and fifteen minutes - this is often more manageable for families, Laing said. "We are actively, passively working toward convincing people that there's a better mousetrap out there," Laing said, but he added Baseball B.C. doesn't want to dictate what kind of programs the invidual clubs run. "I personally believe - as do people like Mark (Kauhane) in the Ridge Meadows group - that this is a better opportunity for the kids and everybody benefits from it." The Ridge Meadows Rally Cap program for this year is already full and will be played at the Pitt Meadows Athletic Field, Albion and Harris Road Park. For more information on Ridge Meadows Minor Baseball, go to rmbaseball.bc.ca.
OTTAWA – Amid the completion of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has released its most recent World Rankings and Canada finds itself in eighth spot in the 45 country ranking. The eighth place ranking is down one from the previous rankings due to Canada’s early elimination at the World Baseball Classic earlier this month. With its victory at the WBC, Japan moves to third in the rankings, up from fourth. Cuba still remains number one followed by Korea, which moved to second from third. The USA dropped two spots down to fourth. The IBAF debuted its World Rankings earlier this year in January. Developed in conjunction with Scott Goode, a sports information director from Harding University (Arkansas), the rankings are based on a point total which IBAF member federations (teams) earn from IBAF-sanctioned events in a four-year window, or a period of time that encompasses two IBAF Baseball World Cups.Teams earn points based on their finish in an event. A tournament winner takes home 50 points, second place, 40; third place, 30; and fourth place, 15. From there, points are divided evenly among the remaining teams in the event to ensure balance between tournaments that feature different-sized fields. Once points are rewarded based on a team’s finish, that amount is then multiplied by a number based on the strength of the event. Major world championships, such as an Olympic Games, IBAF Baseball World Cup or World Baseball Classic, all receive 4X multipliers. Minor world championship events (Junior, Youth or FISU University Worlds for example) have a 1X multiplier, and all other continental championships receive multipliers from 1X-.25X based on how many teams in the top-10 of the current IBAF World Rankings compete in the event. Here are the top ten countries as ranked by the IBAF: 1. Cuba2. Korea3. Japan4. USA5. Chinese Taipei6. Netherlands7. Mexico8. Canada9. Australia10. Puerto Rico Complete IBAF World Rankings: http://www.ibaf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Files_-_world_rankings/2009_IBAF_World_Rankings_March.htm
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