Over the last few weeks the Herts Baseball Club front office has been opening mailboxes with trepidation in anticipation of bad news. A final confirmation of that news came a week or so ago. During the winter period the big clubs in Europe have been holding negotiations with the Herts Falcons 2013 MVP, Xavi Gonzalez. The paperwork has been received and the Falcons shortstop will be wearing the colours of the Stuttgart Reds in 2014.
The 24-year-old Venezuelan joined Herts 12 months ago and played a key role in the very successful 2013 season for the Falcons which saw the team finish top in the regular season standings for the first time in the club’s history, with a winning percentage of .857. His outstanding fielding ability was recognised by the league awarding him the NBL Gold Glove at shortstop. There aren’t many 5-tool players in the world and Gonzalez is one of them. His batting average was .411 and slugging average .712 with 3 home runs which made him the joint-team leader in that category. Defensively he committed only 2 errors. We can add his speed to that with 13 stolen bases.
As one of the best players in the NBL last season it will be difficult for the Falcons to replace a player like Xavi Gonzalez, but this means that there is an opportunity for someone to take his spot in the lineup and become a star just like him. The Opening Day clash with the London Mets is just a few days away so it will be interesting to see who will play in the shortstop position this Sunday.
“Everyone in the club will miss Xavi not just because of his baseball ability, but we will also miss him as a person and because of what he brought off the field” said club president, Aspi Dimitrov. He added: “There aren’t many players who would make a 4-hour round trip from Bournemouth every week for games and training sessions”.
Gonzalez is expected to make his debut for the Stuttgart Reds in the Germand Bundesliga this Sunday at 12pm UK time in their Opening Day game against Heidenheim Heideköpfe. The Reds finished fifth in the South Division with a .500 winning percentage.
So does this transaction carry any significance in terms of the long-term prospects for growth and development of Herts Baseball Club and the British baseball league as a whole? Does this mean that clubs like Herts cannot compete with teams in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy due to their financial superiority? Will all of Britain’s rising stars end up playing under similar professional or semi-professional contracts in these countries? A few years ago the answers to these questions would probably have been pessimistic, but there are signs of a shift in direction in the UK. There is a buzz around the leagues right now and obvious signs that clubs are starting to realize that there is potential to grow the sport and secure a market share similar to the British ice hockey and basketball professional leagues. Front offices are beginning to approach the running of their clubs as a business generating extra income which is then quickly reinvested into baseball infrastructure, grassroots development and promoting the game in the community.
“We are very optimistic that in the next few years we will be able to turn the table and compete financially with the big European leagues. The traffic of players will change direction and we hope that we will be able to see Xavi back in a Herts jersey. This gives us one more reason to push even harder” said Dimitrov.
British baseball fans would have noticed that the NBL’s 2012 Most Valuable Player, Jarrod Pretorius (pictured right), was wearing a MK Bucks uniform this weekend so there is a question as to which team he is likely to play for this season.
Falcons’ second game ended in a tie against the South London Pirates which was awarded as a win for the Pirates on the “count-back” rule. This was the first opportunity to see the Pirates this Spring and they unveiled an interesting starting pitcher (pictured left). The name of the player was not disclosed but he will certainly cause problems for NBL teams this season with a lively arm.
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The London Metros versus Herts Falcons game was much anticipated as it was an opportunity to see a few of the new arrivals for the two teams. Both teams fielded a mix of NBL and AAA players. The Falcons gave debut to Abelardo Salas (pictured right). The leftie had a good outing on the mound working well with catcher Ryan Bird. Errors in the field proved to be very costly for the Falcons as the Metros went on to win the game convincingly. Herts fans were also able to see Robert Davis for the first time. He impressed driving the ball deep into left field in his first at bat. The ball fell just a few inched short of the home run fence and that was with the wind blowing in the opposite direction. The highlight of the game was 2014 NBL MVP, Ryan Bird, at bat against Pietro Sollecito who had the lowest ERA in the NBL last season. It was a 10-pitch battle which started with Bird driving the ball deep over the right field wall only for the wind to take it to the wrong side of the foul pole. Sollecito came back strong forcing Bird to foul-off a large number of pitches. The at bat ended with a not so dramatic walk but everyone knew that this was a battle of titans. It will be interesting to see them clash again on Sunday, 6 April, as the Mets and Falcons open the 2014 NBL season at Grovehill Ballpark.
23 games are scheduled to be played on the three diamonds. The competition begins on March 22 with a clash between the London Marauders and the Kent Mariners in the HSL-A bracket followed by the game between the London Musketeers and the Herts Raptors. The HSL-AA and HSL Majors divisions commences 24 hours later.