Author: Rob Jones

6 July 2016 by Rob Jones

The best of times, the worst of times

A walk-off victory feels sweet no matter how badly you might have played in the game, writes Rob Jones. A walk-off defeat feels galling, no matter how well you might have played to take the game to the wire. The last moment is the one that affects you the most, and lives with you the longest.

So it’s a curious feeling when your final two actions were poles apart, and yet as close together as the bang-bang of a play on the bases.

It was the bottom of the ninth inning against the Old Timers in Enfield on Sunday. The Herts Raptors had misfired a bit to start off, and so were behind all the way. But a late rally had meant we started the ninth just 3 runs behind. Two had already scored, the tying run was at third base.

Two men were out. So it was now or never as I stepped up to bat. After driving in two runs in the first inning I had popped up, lined out, grounded out to the pitcher and — according to my own scoresheet – hit an infield single off the handle of the bat.

Risky

This time, I took a strike, I took a ball. And then I hit one sweetly through the infield to tie up the game. Job done. Not quite hero time, maybe, but definitely on the high end of the high scale.

I stole second easily enough after the lefty pitcher tried a couple of throw-overs. And once on second, my thoughts turned immediately to taking third.

Once up on a time, I never stole third. My schooling from watching Major League teams was that you didn’t do it. There is no real need, and it is risky.

But practical experience in British single-A baseball made me much more inclined to do it. A good jump should see you safe, and most pitchers don’t and can’t pick off well to second.

Being on third would have given me the chance to score on a close play at first from the next batter, or would allow me to score on a pass ball.

Casual-ty

So I looked, and the pitcher looked at me. Then he settled in to make his next pitch. I was thinking of taking a walking lead and going — rather than setting up as an obvious steal. But as I took that casual extra step the pitcher turned, and immediately I was screwed.

My weight was going the wrong way, but I hadn’t strayed far enough to make it worth dashing for third. I tried to get back, but felt the tag applied. From hero to goat in seconds.

I can’t remember when I was last picked off on second base. To be honest, I’m not sure I have ever been picked off from second base. Yes, picked off at first a couple of times. That’s sort of inevitable if you play the game for long enough. But never at second.

However, having a career not-getting-picked-off-at-second-base average of 0.001 doesn’t make you feel any better about it when it happens. Getting hit by a bus doesn’t hurt any the less because you haven’t been hit by a bus before. As I said at the start, it’s the most recent moment which most colours your opinion.

A rare glimpse of your correspondent in action – usually he takes the pictures too.

Even though July is just a few days old, I am already nearing the tail end of my season. Four games gone, two to go.

We have games against London and Essex looming, then a rematch with the Old Timers which I can’t make, and a game against Haverhill which they have already forfeited. By my own reasoning, I am approaching the defining and lasting moment! The one to remember all winter!

It’s been pretty good fun so far, I have to say. Three wins and one defeat in my games . A refreshing change from so many previous years! The batting average is about .400, the on base percentage a smidgen higher.

Playing one consistent position at shortstop has been a highlight. I’ve had one memorable fielding play in each game, and have felt mostly happy with how I handled the ball. It is recorded elsewhere on this website that I had some frustration at Haverhill, but even that ended with three put-outs.

The other highlight of the year has been the spirit in the team. A winning record certainly helps, but there has been a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of smiles.

If we can keep playing at our best we could head into post-season playoffs. Which would add a whole new opportunity to create a final moment to remember.

NB. we do not own any rights to Charlie Brown. They reside with Charles M. Schulz, and Peanuts Worldwide. We are merely fans. Thank you.

4 July 201618 July 2016 by Rob Jones

Walk-off woe for Raptors

Any game against the Old Timers is guaranteed to include drama, but the Herts Raptors did not much enjoy the ending of Sunday’s encounter in Enfield. The home side had led from the start, but the visitors drew level in the ninth, only to see the Old Timers walk off with a win.

Lefty Michael Cresswell was the starting pitcher for Herts, and he spent much of the first inning coming to terms with the vertiginously high mound, and the notably low strike zone. It allowed the Old Timers to score four runs and quickly surge ahead of the 2 which Herts had put up in their half of the frame.

Michelle Johnson in action. Her fielding helped keep Herts in the game

It was a similar picture in the second and the doughty veterans had stretched their lead to 12-7 by the top of the sixth.

Herts never really did anything wrong in the field. But they never quite clicked either. There were a couple of close plays which — on a good day — would go your way, but didn’t on Sunday.

The bats made regular contact, with Darren Priest and Paul Barton collecting multiple hits. But on many of those occasions the contact wasn’t clean, and it became a routine out. Also, there were uncharacteristic errors by Raptors on the base-paths, which took the wind out of rallies.

Cresswell got better every inning. He picked up a couple of strikeouts and fielded sharply. But he was tiring so Barton took over pitching duties.

In this stretch of the game, both sides were putting up zeroes. Raptors’ left fielder Michelle Johnson — who has links to the club back to youth days, but is only now playing for a team — was the outfield star, taking a series of vital catches.

But with time now starting to run out, Herts did what they had to do and rallied. Third baseman Jim Arnott had smashed two balls deep into foul territory during the game. Now he got one just right, for a monster triple which brought in crucial runs.

And so the Raptors went into the top of the ninth three runs behind, 14-11 the score.

Michael Cresswell scored. Matt Jackson scored. Paul Barton worked his way to third base. With two out, Rob Jones stepped in. He took a strike, then a ball, then rapped a single through the left side to bring home Barton and tie up the game.

But after stealing second comfortably, Jones became the latest and last Raptor of the day to suffer a misadventure on the base paths. As he took an extra step towards third, the left-handed relief pitcher spun and threw perfectly for the second baseman to apply the tag.

Old Timers had the top of their order come up to hunt for the one run they needed in the bottom of the ninth. Raptors couldn’t keep him off the bases, and with the infield drawn right in the home side were able to drive one through and end the game.

Herts Raptors are now 5-3 on the season, with their rubber matches against London and Essex coming up in the next fortnight.

23 May 201613 July 2016 by Rob Jones

Barton and the Haverhill Adventure

This was a game of towering pop-ups, and of monster, moon-shot home runs. If it wasn’t so damned hard to hit a moving baseball, this could have been a very high-scoring game. But, as it was, there were bursts of scoring, and tense patches when pitching and defense held sway.

Paul Barton got his first start of the season for the Raptors on the pitching mound. Well, actually there is not a pitching mound at the Haverhill Blackjacks. If anything, you are pitching uphill.

But Barton, the Raptors 2015 MVP, found his rhythm quickly, and the hosts were held scoreless for the first two frames. Centre-fielder Matt Jackson made a great catch on an enormous fly ball towards the fence, and third baseman Aspi Dimitrov caught the first giant pop-up of the day.

By contrast, the Herts bats made a brisk start, three runs scoring in the first. There were two down in the second before the offense struck again. Manager Michael Cresswell hit a triple out into the wastelands, and was driven in by Adam White. It was 6-0 to Herts after two innings.

Then runs dried up. The Blackjacks pitcher was giving nothing away, and the home fielders were doing good work to back him up. Haverhill’s bats pulled back two runs in the bottom of the fourth — despite the brilliant work of catcher Ilya Dimitrov in catching two pop-ups at the backstop which were even higher than the first one I told you about.

Booming home runs

Herts extended their lead in the top of the fifth, Paul Barton continuing to help his own cause and the talismanic veteran Nick White continuing to deliver at the plate.

But Haverhill came right back with more, and had their biggest outburst in the bottom of the sixth to narrow the score just 10-9 to Herts. A big slugging line-up was starting to find its range, hitting booming home runs to left field and to right, as well as ground rule doubles which outfielder Darren Priest could barely see let alone catch.

Aspi Dimitrov came on to pitch in relief, and got to work swiftly. Neither side scored in the seventh.

Now, the test of a team comes when their back is against the wall. Raptors were determined not to let their unbeaten record go without a fight, and players who had endured a frustrating day at the plate came through. Ilya Dimitrov clobbered a double, closely followed by one from Matt Jackson, who was hitless until then.

Shortstop Rob Jones – whose day was frustrating with bat and glove – worked a walk, added a steal and scored a run. Nick White showed off his speed to steal a base, and Herts scored a vital five runs, their biggest inning of the day.

The Raptors Twitter feed at this point summed it all up — “God, this is tense”. Herts were held scoreless in the top of the ninth, meaning Haverhill were 15-11 behind and needing four to tie, five to walk- off as winners.

Dimitrov got the first dangerous batter to ground out close to his own feet, and a weight started to lift. One more out was secured. Then the next Blackjack batter smashed another monstrous shot towards the outfield fence.

It arced out to centre field. Matt Jackson went back on it, back further. And as the ball came down in his glove he squeezed it safely. His back was virtually touching the fence. The Raptors had won.

Grace and humour

The co-managers had been immense again in all their roles. Michael Cresswell saved a number of plays at first base, scooping up short or errant throws, while Paul Barton started the day 4-4 with the bat. The win was also his first W as a pitcher.

But this was a team effort, with everyone part of the victory. Haverhill Blackjacks had put up a tremendous fight and had done it with grace and good humour which made it a really enjoyable game in the Suffolk sunshine.

Raptors are 4-0 on the season, having played and beaten every team in their pool in the Single-A league.

The Herts Hawks were pushed all the way when they traveled to the Cambridge Monarchs, but they also came away with a win. The Hawks survived a big rally in the fifth inning and won 19-16 to remain undefeated.

9 May 201613 July 2016 by Rob Jones

Poetry in Bochan helps lift Herts hearts

A masterful pitching performance by Greg Bochan helped the Herts Hawks to a comfortable 19-2 win over the Milton Keynes Coyotes on Sunday (8th May 2016), extending their unbeaten run.

He scattered five hits across five innings of work, striking out four and walking just two. He gave up no earned runs.

The Hawks — led by managers Bochan and Andrew Slater — are now 4-0 on the season and leading their division in the BBF’s Single-A league.

Greg Bochan pitches in the win over MK Coyotes

The powerful offense was driven this week by Sonam Lama, who went 3-for-5 at the plate. He drove in three runs, and scored three himself. There were also two hits for Louis Hare — a double and a triple — and one RBI each for Aspi and Ilya Dimitrov.

The Hawks were held mostly in check by Milton Keynes until the third inning, when they suddenly piled up seven runs. That gave them an 11-1 lead and it was already looking bad for the Coyotes.

The visitors added on two and then six more, and Bochan helped stifle any attempted comebacks. The game was called on the mercy rule after five innings, the Hawks securing a 19-2 victory.

Back at Grovehill in Hemel Hempstead, the Herts Raptors were taking on the Essex Archers. Herts had played only one game, a tight one at London which they won 7-3. The Archers had scored for fun in their two wins. So everything was poised.

The early exchanges were even. The first Essex batter fell victim to Matt Corran’s impressive fastball, but then batters made contact for force the defense to try to make tough plays. They then stole aggressively to open up with a run.

The Raptors answered back with two, then Essex tied it back up. Their starting pitcher Billy Bridger was working the zone well and Herts could manage only one run in the second.

Then in the third, the Raptors were able to make pressure tell. Essex were unlucky on a series of hard hit balls which caromed around the defense like pinball. Herts scored seven in the third, then eight in the fourth after veteran Rich Sprent came in as reliever for Essex.

Herts co-managers Michael Cresswell and Paul Barton both hit well, while the bats up and down the lineup did their jobs. Youngsters Joe Court and Adam White have already showed great improvement in their hitting this season.

As Raptors stretched their lead, they could see the chance of a mercy rule win. Three runs in the bottom of the fifth sealed the deal, Court driving in Darren Priest for the winning run in a 21-6 victory.

4 May 20166 July 2016 by Rob Jones

Back in the game

There was frost on the grass when I got up for the Raptors season opener on Sunday. Not usually a good sign, writes Rob Jones. But the sun was shining by the end of the day — in more ways than one.

Scheduling had meant this day was a long time coming. The first of May before we had a league game. I was not at all happy about that when I found out — but since I would sooner eat my own socks than attempt to please all the people by drawing up a schedule, I can’t really complain!

The interminable off-season and the elongated pre-season had seen very little baseball activity for me. Sometimes my work pattern can be kind to me, sometimes not. This year it was not.

I had been to a couple of sessions at Grovehill which amounted to little more than freezing cold pick-up games. Barely even training sessions. I say that not to denigrate the efforts of the organisers, because these were over and above the formal training sessions. It’s just that these were the only ones I made it to.

Overall I had actually been happy with the way I fielded the ball during these sessions. After more than a decade playing baseball, maybe it was finally becoming second nature to pick up the ball cleanly. Now at last I might be on a par with some 10-year old American kids.

Just some of them, mind you. Most will be waaaay better than me.

Anyway, I felt that side of things was going well. Throwing the ball was more of a challenge. Maybe too much over-thinking, too much caution fearing that I hadn’t warmed up thoroughly. I’ve been trying hard to run a couple of times a week and keep fit, but have had very few visits to the park where I throw the ball against a wall.

I had at least been watching some MLB spring training. It’s a wonderful thing in the depth of a British winter to see the lush green ballparks in Florida and Arizona.

And oddly, one of the most satisfying things is watching stars of today and the future boot the ball around like they are amateurs! In the random selection of games I saw I found muffed double plays, misplayed grounders and even dropped fly balls.

It’s not schadenfreude. As such. Not quite. But while we are all nagged by our inadequacies, it is good to see that the world’s top professionals don’t always get it right.

It was clear that there was also some rust in the Herts Raptors as the opening game got underway at Finsbury Park. There were some half-hearted swings, some late decisions with the bat which suggested we had not faced much live pitching.

There were let-downs on the base-paths too. When I blooped a single over first base, the runner on third did not take off as you would expect. And with us then having first and third, I promptly missed the obvious chance to steal and help the inning develop.

I stole on the next pitch, which was fouled back; then the next one, which was popped up and neary turned into a double play. Then I had no more legs for stealing! In a tight game like this one, we could have done with the extra couple of runs that could’ve been gained by ironing out these mistakes.

Our esteemed president, Aspi, had some adventures on the base-paths too, but that was probably my fault. He got on, and looked over for a signal. I gave a series, but had not intended to send him due to his still recuperating knee.

When he then surprisingly set off, he was nearly doubled off because of a pop-up! He scrambled back successfully, and I then changed our signals to the mould-breaking shout of “Don’t steal! No steal!” Not sure if the opposition cracked that code….

As you can find out elsewhere on this website, the game actually ended as a great success. Those were the sunny uplands we Raptors reached by Sunday lunchtime. A tight, MLB-style game ended 7-3 thanks to great pitching from Matt and good defense behind him, especially from Mikey at first base.

I did my little bit from shortsop, getting a runner out on a routine grounder, and driving in two runs with a 2-4 performance at the plate.

But the rust prompted me to strike out on high pitches, and to misjudge an infield dying quail. So I shall get out my polish, and head on into next week’s game looking to take another step forward.

2 May 20163 May 2016 by Rob Jones

Raptors start with win, as Hawks roll on

The Herts Raptors kicked off their season in Single-A with a statement of intent. A tight game at Finsbury Park against the London Musketeers ended with a 7-3 win. While Single-A can often bring drama through high scores, drastic errors and marathon contests, this one was a more classic baseball contest.

Raptors’ rookie pitching ace Matt Corran was dealing from the every first moment of the game. The Musketeers lead-off man was struck out and Corran went on to sit down 14 more batters in a full 9 innings of work.

A converted cricketer, Matt was a regular at midweek training last year. He appeared in a few games at the tail end of the 2015 season and now promises to have a big influence on the Raptors prospects. He mixed in breaking balls with a powerful fastball, and located pitches perfectly.

This was not a tale of one man, though. The defence had to remain sharp behind the pitcher, and they did that. Second baseman Adam White dealt calmly with ground balls his way, and co-manager Michael Cresswell turned a crucial unassisted double play at first base to end a London threat in the seventh inning.

Constant threat

Musketeers have been getting stronger and stronger in recent years — reaching the national semi-finals in 2015. Herts knew they would have to take their chances if they were to prevail, and they did that in the top of the first as starting pitcher Lloyd Winters battled to find the low strike zone.

First Michael Cresswell and then Ken Pike got on base, and they both worked their way to home plate to score. Cresswell would be a constant threat all day, and he later tacked on an insurance run with a slide into a close play at home.

Winters soon settled into his usual assured stride, and Herts were held scoreless for the next two innings. He ended the day with 6 strikeouts, and reliever Billy Atkinson-Warne racked up another seven to complete an excellent day’s work for everyone who took the pitching mound.

The Raptors’ crucial burst of offense came in the top of the fifth. It was kick-started by a superb at-bat by Nick White. After years supporting his son through the Herts ranks, Nick had been pressed into service on Sunday hitting in the 9-hole. He watched balls, he took strikes, and he battled off pitches to keep alive to work a walk.

Cresswell followed behind, then Paul Barton got on. White scored before shortstop Rob Jones drove a ball to the outfield, bringing home two more runs to stretch the lead to 7-1.

There would be no more scoring until the bottom of the ninth, when the Musketeers faced a do or die challenge needing 6 to tie, 7 to win. The lead-off got on base and runners stole aggressively. Herts allowed the steals, but the London policy bore fruit quickly and one run scored to chip away at the lead.

Powered through

Matt Corran bore down, though, and when a second runner scored it was at the cost of an out at first base, Corran fielding a comebacker and running it to the bag himself in a belt and braces approach. All it needed was a final strikeout and the victory was secure.

Back at Grovehill, the Herts Hawks were facing the Northants Centurions. The hosts — who were actually the visiting team for this occasion — powered through to another big win.

A home run by Jon Lewys was the obvious highlight, but he didn’t stop there — he also finished a double shy of the cycle. The Hawks doubles were provided by Hunter Devine and Ilya Dimitrov, who picked up 3 and 2 RBIs respectively.

Three pitchers combined to limit Northants to 10 runs, eight earned. Simon Langton struck out three and gave up just one run in his three innings of work.

The Hawks are now 3-0 on the season and already looking poised for another run at the playoffs. They travel to Milton Keynes Coyotes next week, who are 2-2 and will be looking to stop the Hawks momentum. The Raptors next opponent is the Essex Archers, who have won both of their opening games.

28 April 2016 by Rob Jones

Herts youngsters chosen for GB rosters

A clutch of young Herts baseball stars have been named to the rosters for Great Britain’s development programme.

The national team development programme (NTDP) is divided into three sections — under-15; under-18; and seniors. It’s intended to give a wide pool of players the chance of elite preparation and training, and these rosters will be used for selecting the teams for international competitions.

Brodie Caress has been selected for the U-18 roster

At U-15, Herts is represented by Jamie Warren, a new arrival at the club. He and his family have already made an impression with both the U-17 programme and the Herts Hawks in the BBF adult leagues.

Coaches see potential in Jamie for a high quality player — a feeling that GB obviously shares — and he has already been part of the national high performance academy.

Great Britain will send an U-15 team to the Confederation of European Baseball (CEB) European Championship Qualifier in Switzerland in July.

Several young stars from the revamped Herts Falcons have been chosen for the U-18 roster. Having risen through the club’s ranks they have also been familiar faces to GB for several years.

Conner Brown and Brodie Caress have been turning out for the Falcons already this season as catcher and pitcher and have performed superbly. Carlos Casal and Zack Longboy — who have long, successful connections to Herts — have also been selected for the NTDP.

The U18 programme will send a GB national team to the CEB European Championship in Spain in July. This year’s championship will also serve as qualifier for the 2017 World Cup.

Last but not least, Will Zucker has been named to the GB Lions. This team is intended to bridge the gap between the Under-18 and the senior national team.

Will’s pitching helped take the Herts Raptors to national playoffs just a few years ago and, despite heading off to university, his links to Herts remain strong. The Lions will take part in an All-Star game against NBL talent later in May.

Most of the players on these rosters are British-based, and a wide range of clubs across the country are represented. Over time, GB Baseball says it hopes to include players from even more clubs.

The NTDP will see the players benefit from a strength and conditioning coach, as well as a sports science expert and — of course – top baseball coaches.

There have been tryouts in March, and more will take place later in the year. On top of that, coaches will be scouting British baseball games for the best talent available.

27 April 201627 April 2016 by Rob Jones

Hawks stay hot, Falcons frozen out

The Herts Hawks continued their impressive start to the Single-A season with a 26-10 victory over the Mercenaries, part of the London stable of teams (on Sunday, April 24th).

A huge outburst of offense in the second inning of this game at Grovehill was decisive. After a fairly even first frame, the Hawks scored 13 runs in the second and never looked back.

The powerhouse with the bat was Gilberto Medina, who went 5-for-5 with 2 doubles and 6 RBIs. Hunter Devine and Jon Lewys pitched in with 2 RBIs each, while the joint managers Greg Bochan and Andrew Slater scored 3 runs each.

Bochan also contributed from the mound, striking out a pair, but the win went to Sonam Lama. He struck out 2 over 3 innings, and yielded just 2 earned runs. The Hawks are now 2-0 on the young season, and face Northants next.

Conner Brown of the Herts Falcons (pic: Paul Holdrick)

An icy day at Grovehill blew no good news for the Herts Falcons of the NBL. They were hosting the three-time champion London Mets for a doubleheader.

The visitors jumped out to a 4-run lead in the top of the first, but the Falcons stayed in touch. Darrin Ward started on the mound, and over five innings he gave up only 6 earned runs. But the Falcons were charged with 9 errors and the Mets piled up runs in the sixth inning to make it a blowout. The game ended 20-4.

Conner Brown got two hits and Luis Goncalves drove in two runs with a double. Brown went 2-4 in the second game as well, and drove in a pair of runs, but it wasn’t to be enough.

The Mets started even faster out of the blocks this time, scoring 4 runs in the first and 6 in the second to take a stranglehold. The Falcons rallied in the fifth but this one ended 18-8.

This is a young Herts team and the season was always expected to be one of rebuilding. Brodie Caress, who has come up through the clubs ranks, pitched 4 innings and gave up just 5 earned runs. Osmel Vazquez was tagged with the loss.

The Falcons have opened their season against some of the most powerful teams in the league and must look to take the positives from these games into their next encounters. They face the London Capitals this weekend.

1 April 20162 April 2016 by Rob Jones

Former National Vazquez joins Falcons

Another championship-winning baseball player has joined the Herts Falcons to help the club push for the National Baseball League (NBL) title in 2016.

Osmel Vazquez was part of the Southern Nationals team in the NBL in 2014. He hit .386 with 2 doubles and drove in 13 runs in that year . The Cuban also stole 11 bases, and scored 18 runs.

He has a rich baseball experience, which began in Cuba with the National Series team, Matanzas. Moving to Italy, he played with clubs such as Castenaso and the Yankees di San Giovanni in Persiceto, winning two league titles. In the UK, Osmel has also played in the Richmond organisation, pitching as well as continuing his hitting performance.

Last year, the Falcons had Maikel Azcuy on board setting home run records, but the team has been remodeled this year and Osmel Vazquez provides valuable spark and experience. He’s excited to help out Herts, and he has been welcomed by manager Lee Manning.

“2016 will be a transitional year for the Falcons, but it’s definitely going to be a fun year”, Manning said.” Our main goal this year will be to develop our younger ball players – but that’s not to say we won’t win some games along the way!”

One of the team’s brightest young stars, catcher Conner Brown, has just returned from the MLB Spring Academies youth tournament in Barcelona — and has gone straight into action for the Falcons. He was one of only three British players taking part in Spain — the others being former Herts star Carlos Casal Jr and Rory Chandler of the Leicester Blue Sox.

The NBL action starts this Sunday, April 3rd, with three games. There will be a rematch of last year’s final, with the Southampton Mustangs taking on the London Mets. The Essex Arrows host the Brighton Jets while the London Capitals travel to the South London Pirates.

The Falcons will be playing their final games of another successful Herts Spring League, facing first the Milton Keynes Bucks then the London Mammoths. They open their NBL campaign on the road on April 10th against the Southampton Mustangs, before playing a home opener at Grovehill the following week, versus the newest member of the NBL, the Brighton Jets.

25 February 2016 by Rob Jones

Herts youth stars invited to MLB tournament

Two of the young stars of Herts baseball club and the Great Britain youth team — Conner Brown and Carlos Casal Jr — have been invited to a prestigious Major League Baseball tournament in Spain next month.

The pair have been selected to the European All Star roster for the MLB Spring Academies Tournament which takes place in Barcelona in March. Only three British players have been chosen — the third being Rory Chandler of the Leicester Blue Sox.

He will join Conner (in catching action, above) and Carlos (pictured below) as part of a team to compete against Academy teams from Holland, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain and France. They will also have the chance to receive quality instruction from top European coaches and play with other players from across Europe.

Announcing the invites, the Great Britain Juniors head coach Will Lintern said: “You have earned this opportunity because of the hard work and determination you have put into yourselves and the HPA programme over the last 6-8 months. You, your parents, clubs and your schools should be exceptionally proud of what you have achieved. Well done!”

That praise was echoed by Herts club President, Aspi Dimitrov. “It is exciting news”, he said, “and it gives everyone at the club great pleasure to see Carlos and Conner developing as players and as people.”

“We know they will enjoy the experience in Barcelona”, he added, “and we hope that this will be one of many upcoming opportunities for them”.

Both players have been pulling on the Herts uniform for several years now. Carlos Jr took up the sport when he was 7 years old “after seeing Herts being advertised on ESPN– and I’ve been hooked ever since”, he said. In 2012 he had his first opportunity to play for Great Britain when he was part of the team which went to Florida in the USSSA Gold Medal Games.

Carlos said: “I’m looking forward to this opportunity, and I feel privileged to have been invited to go.”

Conner has also been playing as catcher for the under-17 GB team, and made his debut with the Herts Falcons in the National Baseball League in 2013. He attended the MLB Academy in Toulouse, France, last Spring — only the second Herts player to get such an invite.

The MLB European Baseball Academy was created to provide training for European, New Zealand and African baseball prospects by former major leaguers. It also provides a central scouting location during the weeks it is open and over two dozen Academy alumni have signed contracts with MLB teams.

Herts youth and adult players are currently in Spring Training, with pre-season games due to start in March. New players are still joining the club at all levels, and we hope that more young talent can follow in the footsteps of Conner and Carlos.