A Quintet of Princeton Rays to spend their winter in Australian Baseball League
The reason being is that 2010-11 P-Rays' manager Michael Johns and four former P-Rays' players, catcher Mark Thomas (2007), along with a trio of outfielders: Ty Morrison (2008-09), Todd Glaesmann (2010), and Kevin Kiermaier (2010) will be wearing the uniform of the Canberra Calvary in the six-team Australian Baseball League this winter.
Canberra is the capital of Australia and has a population of over 345,000 people. The Calvary will play a 45-game schedule that commences with their opening game at home on November 4 and then stretch through the regular season's conclusion on January 22. There will also be two farmhands participating from the Toronto Blue Jays organization to round out current MLB connections to this year's Canberra team. However, it is expected that players of both different skill levels and nationalities will dot the rosters on all league teams.
Regular season games in the league as a general rule are always scheduled for Thursdays through Sundays and are most often played at night. At least in Canberra's case, all travel to their opponents' sites for road games will be done by air.
As far as Michael Johns, who will be a member of the team's coaching staff, is concerned, it is the "opportunity of a lifetime."
"It was mentioned to me during this past summer that Tampa Bay was considering sending me on this assignment if they decided to participate. I let them know I would welcome the experience if it happened," shared Johns, who added that this would be a great way for the players going to get some more at-bats in game action during the winter. Johns is scheduled to leave for Australia on October 26.
Kiermaier's engine is recharged and, he too, is looking forward to his time in the "land down under."
"When I first learned about it, I wasn't too thrilled because I was so tired coming off my first full-season in pro ball. But, now that I have a been home a few weeks, I feel rested and missing baseball. I'm ready to get back out there. 'MJ' (Michael Johns) told me to consider Australia as an opportunity to have a spring training before our spring training with a break built in between," said Kiermaier in an October 13 phone interview.
This comes on the heels of a busy summer for Kiermaier, who appeared in 120 games for the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the Midwest League, hitting .241 while being second on the Hot Rods in stolen bases with 27. He also added he hoped to use his playing time in Australia to build on some of the lessons he took from this fall's Tampa Bay Instructional League action.
The added games will be good for outfielders Glaesmann, who only took the field this year for 63 games at Bowling Green and for Morrison, who only appeared in 67 games for the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League.
Thomas, who has been under a surgeon's knife since season's end, displayed a power bat with the Charlotte Stone Crabs this summer, leading the team with 13 homers. He told us here at "Raywatch" that he is a little wary coming off the surgery but was hopeful to use the Australia experience in working his way back toward the 2012 season.
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