Category: Cardinals

29 March 202330 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts teams announce preliminary 2023 rosters for the HSL

The seven Herts teams have announced their preliminary rosters for the 2023 Herts Spring League.

We understand that these rosters are not fixed and it is likely that there may be movement between teams over the course of the HSL. Some players may play for more than one team as managers look to evaluate them ahead of the announcement of the 2023 Opening Day rosters.

The HSL games commence on April 1st.

New players are registering every week, therefore some new names may be added to the rosters over the course of the HSL and throughout the league season.

Herts Falcons (National Baseball League)

Alex Deacon
Alexander Paterson
Ben Morris
Ben Moruzzi
Benjamin Sporleder
Cole Nakazawa
Daniel Moran
Dylan Lawler
Eli Belizaire
Fraser Duggan
Harry Quixley
Jack Mccarthy
Jack Warrington
Kaden Horwood
Leo Nakazawa
Leon Gutowski
Matthew Moran
Max Manoff
Michael Cresswell
Nathan Simmons
Nicholas Effingham
Rene Torcato
Samuel Sporleder
Tasuku Ishihara
Tetsuro Shinkawa
Will Clayton

Herts Cardinals (Triple-A)

Andy Cornish
Arik Raviv
Brian Dearing
Chun Hung Wong
Erik Gustafson
Giorgio Ferroni
Hiroki Fujimoto
James Cavanagh
James Hicks
Javier Tomas
Joshua Pines
Naohiko Kumagai
Osvaldo Badia Rivero
Robert Laflamme
Roberto Hernandez
Sean Bennett
Tyler Cote
Vytas Macenas
Will Davis

Herts Ducks (Double-A)

Alexander Trautman
Bradley Charalambous
Bryan Mencias
Danilo Machado
David Mas
Evan Robins
Hang Li
Jake Spicer
John Del Riccio
Kumail Jaffer
Max Trautman
Miguel Gibson
Mohamed Abdule
Paras Patravale
Prime Mencias
Sebastian Cheng
Taysir Barakat

Herts Hawks (Double-A)

Antonio Lourenco
Callum Ferrier
Cameron Schultz
Declan Carlean
Gerrod Taylor
Giuseppe Basilea
Harry Ewen
Harry Mcmenamin
Jack Obrien
Kennet Pike
Michael Johnson
Noah Tabor
Peter Hogg
Thomas Hill
Todd Neville

Herts Eagles (Single-A)

Ahmed Hassan
Boran Sahin
Daniel Gipple
Eleni Xintaras
Francesco Meduri
George Llewelyn Thomas
James Tappenden
Jamie Lang-Richards
Joe Gipple
Joseph Flores
Mark Vidler-Connaughton
Michael Green
Neil Chilton
Peter Wilson
Reece Crawley
Reece Williamson-White
Saira Smith

Herts Raptors (Single–A)

Abdul Elhamri
Adam Scales
Billy Perry
Danny Preston
David Howard
Hamza Chowdhree
Jack Burkett
Jamie Berlofsky
Jamie Wise
John Kjorstad
Jordon Fox
Lauren Dutch
Lee Dunn
Lewis Auchterlounie
Martin Kuszewski
Max Farmbrough
Maxymus Kuszewski
Michael Cunningham
Nicholas Hine
Paul Auchterlounie
Rufus Lloyd
Steve Kis
Swar Panchal
Thomas Browne

Herts Ravens (Single-A)

Andrew Slater
Arnold Longboy
Cory English
Dan Taylor
Ed Moore
Eric Ferng
Gilberto Medina
Greg Bochan
Henry Bell
Hunter Devine
Jack Page
Joseph Field
Matthew Bell
Matthew Jackson
Nicolas Goetz
Norman Peng
Rob Jones
Sonam Lama
Wei Chieh Wang
Zak Beller

Players, from beginners to advanced, are continuing to register for the 2023 baseball season. For more details about how to join the Herts baseball teams in Hemel Hempstead and in NW London or for more details about the HSL or if you are interested to give baseball a try in this competition contact Herts Baseball Club.

Adult and youth players now registering for the 2023 baseball season

24 March 202328 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

2023 BBF league lineups and schedules released. Tough Opening Day opponents for the 7 Herts teams.

The British Baseball Federation has published the 2023 line-ups and schedules for the four league tiers.

National Baseball League

The Herts Falcons are making their return to the NBL which will feature seven teams this season. Arrows, Bruins, Capitals, Falcons, Mets, Vetra and the East London Latin Boys who are the other new team to enter the NBL following their promotion as the Triple-A national champions last year.

Each team will play 24 games in the regular season – 12 doubleheaders – facing each of the other six teams home and away. The postseason format and playoff qualification has not been announced yet but it is expected that the top four teams in the regular season standings will qualify for the playoff semi-finals on August 20^th with the winners meeting in the NBL championship best-of-3 series on 26 and 27 August.

The Falcons will make the long trip to Sheffield on Opening Day to face the Bruins on Sunday, April 16^th. Their home opener is a week later on Saturday, 22 April, when they host the reigning NBL champions, London Mets.

We understand the Falcons and the Latin Boys have submitted a request to the BBF to switch their series from June 18^th to Sunday July 23^rd at Grovehill Ballpark to enable the Latin Boys to take part in the Croydon Tournament. If the BBF approves this request, Herts plans to make this a special event. There are no games in any of the four BBF leagues on that weekend and Herts current and former club members and fans are advised to save the date – Sunday, 23 July.

Falcons schedule

As announced back in December, the 2023 NBL season will feel very different for Herts Falcons players and fans as the club is running the NBL Pilot Project and all their home games will be ticketed. Now that the game schedule has been published, ticket sales will be launched in the coming days.

The Herts Falcons go into the season as the rank outsiders but it is difficult to make any predictions at this stage as the roster has not been announced. We may have more information about their chances after we see the team in action for the first time in the HSL next week.

Go to the 2023 Herts Baseball Fan Survey

Triple-A League

Similar to the Falcons, the Herts Cardinals start the season by making the longest trip of the year away at the Bristol Badgers on Sunday, 16 April. Their first home game of the season is on April 30^th when they welcome their cross-town rivals, the London Metros.

Last year the Triple-A league consisted of two pools. This year it has been merged into one pool of eight teams. The Croydon Pirates are the new addition after they won the Double-A national championship last year.

Each team will face their opponents home and away in a regular season with a total of fourteen doubleheaders which will continue all the way into September.

Cardinals schedule

Double-A League

Herts Baseball Club was not represented in the Double-A league last year. This year they will have two teams in that league. The Herts Hawks have been promoted after reaching the Single-A national semi-final last year. They will be joined by the club’s expansion team – the Herts Ducks – who will play their home games at the club’s Basing Hill branch in north west London.

The offseason saw a surge of teams moving up from Single-A to Double-A and some moved down from Triple-A to Double-A so there will be four Double-A pools this year.

The Herts Hawks are in the “Central & East” pool alongside the Cambridge Lancers, Essex Archers, Milton Keynes Bucks and the Norwich Iceni. The Herts Ducks are in the “South” pool where they will compete against the Latin Boys (AA), Formosa Islanders, London Musketeers, London Meteors and the Sidewinders.

The Hawks open their season away at the Archers on 23 April while the Ducks are at home on 16 April against the Meteors. There will be no inter-pool matchups in Double-A so there will not be a Herts derby between the Ducks and the Hawks but they can hope to meet in the postseason.

Ducks schedule

Hawks schedule

Single-A League

With the Hawks promoted to Double-A, Herts will have three teams in the Single-A league this year. The BBF has chosen to minimize travel for teams and has allocated all three Herts teams in the same pool where they are joined by the Essex Redbacks (A) and the Milton Keynes Bucks (A). Surprisingly, the BBF has also decided to remove the inter-pool games from the regular season schedule which will reduce the variety of opponents in favour of less travel.

The Herts Eagles open their season away at the Bucks on 23 April. Raptors’ first game is on 7 May at home against the Eagles while the Herts Ravens will have to wait until 14 May to get their season underway at the MK Bucks.

With three Herts teams in the same pool, there will be nine Herts derbies to look forward to. We have to wait until the postseason format is announced to see whether having three Herts teams in the same pool will reduce the probability of seeing Herts teams in the playoffs.

Eagles schedule

Raptors schedule

Ravens schedule

HSL

But before the BBF league season commences, we will have the opportunity to see 17 of the teams play their first games of the year in the 2023 Herts Spring League which is played over two weeks starting on 1 and 2 April (see HSL preview article).

New players

New players are still able to join six of the seven Herts teams. A waiting list system is in effect for the Herts Raptors, but players can be assigned to the other Herts teams while they are on the Raptors waiting list. For more details, contact us.

13 March 202313 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Countdown to HSL – first chance to see the teams ahead of the 2023 British baseball season

The biggest pre-season baseball competition in Britain is back. Commencing on April 1, the Herts Spring League (HSL) will see 17 teams compete over the two weeks of the HSL. Organised by Herts Baseball Club, it is Britain’s version of MLB’s Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues currently under way in the US, and it signals that the season is just around the corner.

Format

The 17 teams will be entered into three HSL tiers – NBL, Double-A and Single-A.

The organisers considered the possibility of a tournament format, but ultimately adopted a league format in the same way as the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues in MLB. “The objective of the HSL is to enable the teams to prepare for the new season and we have noticed that teams are increasingly starting to approach the HSL in the same way as MLB teams approach the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues” said HSL Commissioner, Aspi Dimitrov. He added “we have taken this into account when formulating the schedule putting greater emphasis on the preferences and preparatory requirements of the teams over the format of the competition”.

The teams finishing at the top of their respective division will be the HSL champions.

The Venue

The action will take place at both Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead, and Basing Hill Ballpark in north west London.

Schedule

Over the two weekends 27 games are scheduled to be played on the three diamonds. The competition begins on April 1 with a morning clash between the Herts Hawks and the Single-A national champions, Bracknell Inferno. Both teams have been promoted to Single-A this year. At the same time on Diamond 2, there is a HSL Single-A match-up between the Herts Ravens and the Formosa Islanders.

The HSL NBL division teams play their frst games on Sunday, 2 April. This will be the first opportunity to see the Herts Falcons as they prepare to make their return to the NBL. There will be many new faces for Herts fans to meet for the first time as well as some fan favorites from previous NBL seasons. The preliminary Herts Falcons roster for the HSL will be announced later this month.

Some of the HSL NBL and Double-A games will be played at Basing Hill Ballpark, starting with the Herts Cardinals encounter with the Essex Redbacks who merged with the Essex Arrows earlier this year to create a much larger club with three diamonds in three different Essex towns which is expected to make them a major force in British baseball.

Click to view full 2023 HSL schedule

Excitement building up

The Herts Spring League adds a competitive edge to Spring training. It’s the time for managers to work out their winning formula going into the BBF league season. It is an opportunity to evaluate existing and newly recruited players. Which players will earn a spot in the pitching rotation and who will be batting where in the batting order? Who will make the first team and who will have to work their way up through the minor league system? Not forgetting, it’s a chance to size up your rivals for the year ahead. It’s the first big challenge and the first big excitement of the baseball year. Don’t miss it.

Get in the Game

Adult and youth players, from beginners to advanced, are now registering for the 2023 baseball season. For more details about how to join the Herts baseball teams in Hemel Hempstead and in NW London or for more details about the HSL or if you are interested to give baseball a try in this competition contact Herts Baseball Club.

Adult and youth players now registering for the 2023 baseball season

13 March 202313 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

17 teams will signal the arrival of Spring in the 2023 HSL

Herts Baseball Club has confirmed that 17 teams have entered this year’s Herts Spring League (HSL). The teams come from all British baseball leagues including the National Baseball League (NBL), Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A Leagues.

The HSL teams will be divided into three divisions as follows:

HSL (NBL) Teams

HSL (Double-A) Teams

HSL (Single-A) Teams

Schedule and Format

The HSL will be played over two weeks commencing on the weekend of 1-2 April and ending on 8-9 April. The HSL format and games schedule are expected to be announced shortly and hertsbaseball.com will bring this and all other HSL news as they happen.

6 February 20236 February 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Teams starting to enter the 2023 Herts Spring League

The game dates for the 2023 Herts Spring League (HSL) have been confirmed.

Saturday, 1 April 2023
Sunday, 2 April 2023
Saturday, 8 April 2023
Sunday, 9 April 2023
Saturday, 15 April 2023
Sunday, 16 April 2023

They are based on the indication from the BBF that the Opening Weekend of the NBL season is expected to be 15-16 April 2023. For the other leagues the Opening Weekend is expected to be 22-23 April 2023, although some lower league teams may play their opening games on 15-16 April 2023. More will be known when the BBF league schedules are published.

How to enter your team

Spring is the time when managers put together their teams and aim to turn them into winning machines ahead of Opening Day. Similar to the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues in MLB, the HSL provides a competitive edge to Spring training. This is the sixteenth year of the HSL. Last year 19 teams took part. For more details visit the HSL site.

LEAGUE FORMAT
Teams will be placed in divisions based on their ranking going into the new season. The exact format will depend on the number of teams entering the HSL. Full details will be published when the league line-up is confirmed.

TEAMS
Over the years the HSL has featured teams from the National Baseball League (NBL), Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A Leagues, as well as international teams such as the GB Under-19 and Under-16 National Teams and the ASL Eagles.

Teams from around the United Kingdom will be submitting their entries over the next few weeks and the HSL lineup and games schedule is expected to be published in early March.

VENUES

Games will be played at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. If the two diamonds in Hemel Hempstead are filled to capacity with HSL games, some games may be scheduled at Basing Hill Ballpark in NW London for teams which find that venue more convenient.

Players are now registering for the 2023 season

2 February 20232 February 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

The number of Herts baseball teams increases from 5 to 7

Late last night Herts Baseball Club submitted its team entries in the various BBF leagues. In the previous year the club had five teams in the adult leagues. That number has increased to seven for the upcoming season.

The BBF gave Herts a 24-hour extension to submit their entries. The main question which required more time to consider was whether to enter one or two teams in the National Baseball League (NBL).

“The club did consider the option to enter two NBL teams, as originally planned but, after assessing all of the aspects, we decided not to overstretch ourselves and instead create competition for roster spots and build a Herts Falcons team that can compete and attract fans as part of the NBL Pilot Project. We are also looking to put a structure in place to create a pathway for young players to join Herts, develop, win a spot on the NBL roster and reach their full potential internationally” said Herts Falcons manager, Cris Hiche.

The Herts Falcons are back in the NBL this year and it will be interesting to see what the roster will look like when the players report for Spring Training on 19 February. Cris Hiche did not go into specific details but said, “our NBL roster will combine some experienced players with a large number of young players with enormous potential and we must give credit to Jonathan Rodriguez for that. It will be exciting to see what we can achieve with this group of players and we hope Herts baseball fans will enjoy supporting the team this season.”

The Herts Cardinals had a 10-16 record last year in the Triple-A league and there is no doubt that they will be pushing hard to climb up in the league standings this year.

In 2022 the club was not represented at the Double-A league level. This year there will be two Herts teams in that league tier. Herts Hawks have been promoted after reaching the Single-A league semi-finals last year. They are joined by the Herts Ducks – a new addition to the Herts baseball family. The Hawks will play their home games at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead while the Ducks will be based at Basing Hill Ballpark in north west London.

At the Single-A league level, there will be three Herts teams. In addition to the Herts Eagles and Herts Raptors we will see the return of the Herts Ravens whose last appearance was in 2013 in Triple-A.

Last season Herts had teams only in Triple-A and Single-A. The club is now fully equipped to make a big push in all four league tiers which also puts the club in an excellent position to provide the path for players to work their way up the leagues from the youth programme covering players aged 6 to 14 all the way to the NBL – Britain’s top league.

The managers have left room in the team rosters and new players are continuing to register.

Players now registering for the 2023 season

10 January 202310 January 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts publishes Spring Training schedules for its adult and youth league teams

The BBF has indicated that the Opening Weekend of the NBL season is expected to be 15-16 April 2023. For the other leagues the Opening Weekend is expected to be 22-23 April 2023, although some lower league teams may play their opening games on 15-16 April 2023. More will be known when the BBF league schedules are published.

This is later than in previous years and the Spring Training schedule of the Herts teams has been adjusted accordingly to reflect this.

The Herts youth league is expected to start slightly earlier than last year.

Here are the key 2023 Spring Training dates for the Herts adult and youth league teams. Events are subject to change due to weather or other reasons.

National Baseball League

Players will report for Spring Training on Sunday, 26 February 2023. This includes players who have expressed interest in trying out for the NBL. The schedule will include four weeks of training and three weeks of Spring Training games.

Click here to express interest in trying out for the NBL

Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A League

Players will report for Spring Training on Sunday, 5 February 2023. Double-A and Single-A players based in Hemel Hempstead will start with several training sessions indoors. The schedule will include eight weeks of training and three weeks of Spring Training games.

Herts Spring League

The Herts Spring League is scheduled to start on the weekend of 1-2 April by which point the team managers are expected to have announced their preliminary rosters. The HSL will run for three weeks for Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A teams and for two weeks for the NBL teams as their BBF league season starts a week earlier.

Teams are expected to announce their Opening Day rosters shortly after their final HSL games.

Herts U15, U13, U11 youth league teams

Herts youth players will report for Spring Training on Saturday, 25 February 2023. The first four weeks will take place indoors alternating between indoor venues in Hemel Hempstead and in NW London. This will be followed by five weeks of Spring Training at Grovehill Ballpark and Basing Hill Ballpark. The Opening Day of the various age groups of the Herts Youth Baseball League is expected to be on Saturday, 29 April, subject to confirmation.

Full schedule

Registered players can view the full list of 2023 Spring Training dates, times and venues by logging into the Clubhouse.

Players now registering for the 2023 season

4 January 202324 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Baseball Club adds more board members ahead of the 2023 season

The club has confirmed that the number of executive board members has increased to fifteen after the results of last month’s elections were announced along with the appointment of several additional board members who have been co-opted.

As part of the announcement of the partnership between Herts and Legends last month, it was already confirmed that the Herts Legends NBL team will be managed by Great Britain U18 national team manager and president of Legends Baseball Club, Jonathan Rodriguez. Today’s announcement confirms that he has now been appointed as a member of the club board.

In addition to his role as Herts Legends manager, he has also been appointed as co-General Manager alongside the two other co-GMs, Arnold Longboy (pictured right) and Aspi Dimitrov, who have also been co-opted having served in that role over the previous twelve months. Rodriguez will cover the on-field aspects of the GM role, while Longboy and Dimitrov will focus on operations off the field.

Ken Pike and Sean Bennett have been re-elected as board member as Herts Hawks manager and Herts Cardinals representative, respectively.

Matt Bell has also been re-elected as co-manager of the Herts Londoners and he will be working alongside Andrew Slater who returns to the board having previously co-managed the Herts Hawks in 2016 when the team became Single-A League national champion winning every regular season and postseason game they played that year.

Ken Pike and Andrew Slater have already had the sweet taste of becoming national champions in 2016. Can they do it again in 2023 as managers of the Herts Hawks and co-manager of the Herts Londoners, respectively?

Mike Cunningham has been elected to the board as the new Herts Raptors manager. The team finished far from the playoff places in 2022 but has a wealth of young talented players who are progressing rapidly and are expected to start imposing themselves on the league in the next few years.

The club’s hopes of adding a Double-A League team at its Basing Hill branch was a hot topic at the annual general meeting and the club has made a statement of intent by co-opting Miguel Gibson as manager of that proposed Double-A team. In 2022 he was a member of the Croydon Pirates who became Double-A national champions. The race is now on to see if the club will be able to put together a roster to add that missing piece at Basing Hill.

Players have started registering for the 2023 season and Herts team managers will shortly be assessing what the rosters might look like in 2023 in order to decide how many teams to enter this year and in which BBF leagues. The deadline for league entries is 31 January.

Players now registering for the 2023 season

The Herts youth baseball programme has also been strengthened with the election of Stephen Wong as head of the Hemel Hempstead under-13 department. He gave the programme an huge boost when he joined the youth coaching staff last year.

Aspi Dimitrov has also been re-elected as president and facilities manager for Grovehill Ballpark.

Link to the full list of 2023 board members. More members are expected to be added between now and Opening Day.

As part of the vote, club members approved the amendment of article 9.4 of the constitution related to the deadline for board nominations.

23 December 2022 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Adult and youth league players now registering for the 2023 baseball season

Player registration for the 2023 season has started.

In 2022 Herts Baseball Club grew by 7% and saw performance levels go up with teams climbing up the league standings. In 2023 the club will aim to raise performance levels further and enter teams in all four league tiers.

ADULT BASEBALL LEAGUES

How many teams will represent Herts in 2023? The next few weeks will be crucial as the number of players registering will determine how many teams will be entered before the league entry deadline on 31 January, how many will play in Hemel Hempstead and how many will play in London.

KEY DATES – ADULT TEAMS

(events and dates are subject to change)

February – players report for Spring Training
25-26 March – Start of the 2023 Herts Spring League (subject to confirmation of the BBF league opening day)*
March-May – Great Britain National Team Tryouts (senior and youth teams)*
9 or 16 April – BBF League Opening Day (subject to confirmation)*
May – Midweek Evening Baseball commences
August-September* – BBF Postseason Playoffs and National Championships
September-October – Hunlock Series

* – these are preliminary dates. The BBF will be making its official announcements in due course.

Click here for more details of the membership packages

YOUTH BASEBALL LEAGUES

2022 saw the second season of the Herts Youth Baseball League. The number of registered youth players grew again. In 2023 the club will aim to enhance and develop the programme and the league further to make Herts one of the leading clubs for youth baseball.

KEY DATES – YOUTH TEAMS

(events and dates are subject to changes)

February – players report for Spring Training
March-May – Great Britain National Team Tryouts (senior and youth teams)*
April – Opening Day of the Herts Youth Baseball League season
May-July – Midweek evening baseball sessions
June – UK Little League Qualifiers
July – BBF National Championships
July – European Little League Qualifiers
September – Herts Youth League Playoffs
September/October – Herts Futures Tournament

Click here for more details of the membership packages

WHICH BALLPARK WILL YOU PLAY YOUR HOME LEAGUE GAMES AT?

Herts has two ballparks. The online registration form will ask players to indicate whether they prefer to play their home league games in Hemel Hempstead or in NW London, or whether they would be happy with either. This will provide important information to club management when they configure the adult and youth team rosters for the new season.

HOW TO REGISTER FOR THE 2023 BASEBALL SEASON

Those who already have an account with the club will be prompted to register when they log on next time (click here to go to the Herts online Clubhouse and log on with your existing username and password). Those who are new to Herts Baseball Club and do not have an online account can register as members by completing this form. For more details about joining our teams in 2023 and the membership packages click here or contact us.

7 November 20227 November 2022 by Herts Baseball News Editor

2022 MVP vote results are in

The Most Valuable Players (MVP) of the thirteen Herts adult and youth teams have been announced. The players of each team voted to determine their team’s MVP so the results reflect who the players consider to have been the most influential members this year.

The Cardinals voted for Tyler Cote (pictured above) who proved to be one of the team’s most effective pitchers picking up 3 wins, one of which included an outing where he went five innings without allowing a hit. He led the pitching staff with 29 strikeouts. He also put up good offensive numbers including 2 home runs.

From the five Herts teams in the BBF adult leagues, the Herts Hawks had the best regular season record reaching the playoff semi-final and Harry McMenamin was one of the driving forces behind that success. With a .594 batting average and .844 slugging average he was among the top three batters in the team. But his contribution was in all aspects of the game including an ERA of 2.00* on the mound and one of the team’s most reliable gloves in the infield (Fielding % .967). This is only McMenamin’s second season in the BBF leagues and he has now been voted MVP in both. Last year he was the Herts Raptors MVP. What will he do in 2023?

The Londoners also qualified for the postseason and there were a number of strong candidates for MVP, but it was first baseman Kenny Liao who led the team in so many different statistical categories including batting average (.646) and RBI (37). Whenever he stepped up to the plate there was the confidence that Kenny Liao will get on base and drive runs home. Pitcher and infielder Nic Goetz was a close second in the MVP vote.

Last year the Eagles were the club’s best performing team but they were missing some key players in big games which certainly cost them a number of wins this year. However, there is real excitement about the prospect of seeing 17-year-old pitcher Alex Trautman develop over the next few years. He was chosen as the MVP. He had the most wins and his 7.88 ERA came second behind Mike Wakelam’s 6.30. Trautman recorded 32 strikeouts – a phenomenal rate of 2 strikeouts per inning. He is now also starting to put up high offence numbers.

The Raptors voted John Kjorstad as their MVP. He led the team in RBIs, home runs (3) and slugging average 1.000 and came second in batting average (.481) behind Thomas Browne (.556). It was Kjorstad’s two home runs and 7 RBI in the Raptors’ win against the Eagles that helped the team end a 21-game losing streak.

Kjorstad’s performance on that day was also nominated for Play of the Year and it received the most votes in that category coming ahead of Zak Beller’s Grand Slam in the deciding game versus the Mustangs and the Eagles comeback from 1-9 to win 12-11 against the Londoners.

The Herts youth team coaches had the difficult task of breaking a number of ties in the MVP voting for the eight Herts teams. The MVPs were:

Ben Peters, Herts U15
Chi Laam Wong, Herts U13
Kieran Mucklow, Herts Falcons U11
Emmett Rose, Herts Hawks U11
Joseph Kjorstad, Herts Raptors U11
Violet Jones, Herts Cardinals U11
Dimitri Petromarkov, Herts Eagles U11
Isabel Jones, Herts Londoners U11

Surprisingly, there were only two nominations for Nob-Out. Londoners Eddie Wang was nominated after calling time halting their away game in Guildford to walk over to the opponents’ dugout to claim the game ball which he hit over the fence for his first home run of the season a minute earlier. But it was Aspi Dimitrov who received the most votes. On the final weekend of their regular season, the Herts Londoners won two hard-fought games against Herts Eagles to ensure that London Mustangs are not able to overtake them in the Playoff race thanks to a better head-to-head record in a 2-way tie, only for Aspi Dimitrov to put the celebrations on hold when he informed the team several hours after the win that there is a peculiar scenario where other games could produce a 3-way tie which would bizarrely take Mustangs above Londoners. Celebratory social media posts had to be amended or put on hold over the course of that nail-biting week.

With 2022 award-winners confirmed, attention is already turning to preparations for the 2023 season. What will the new year bring? How many Herts teams will we see and which leagues will they play in? Which players will be challenging to move up the leagues and will a Herts team bring a national championship trophy home.

New players who are hoping to play in 2023 or would like to try baseball to help them decide, should contact the club so they stay updated about 2023 Spring Training.

* – based on the games that we have stats for.