The newly formed Herts Ravens will play its first ever league game this Sunday as they host the Richmond Knights. We put several questions to Ravens Manager, Carlos Casal, and here are his thoughts.

We are just days away from Opening Day. Do you feel ready or has the bad weather in March affected preparations?

Carlos Casal: Being a newly formed team it is always difficult to achieve readiness at the beginning of the season however the preparation programme started slowly during the Spring League but will be fully implemented soon after week one.

What are your main goals for this season?

Carlos Casal: Enjoy playing the game and help the development of the club’s upcoming prospects. However, remember that physical, mental and skills preparation are a key factor to achieve these goals.

What win-loss percentage would be seen as a successful season for the team and is it realistic to expect your team to reach the playoffs or even challenge for the title?

Carlos Casal: Difficult to define. Our goal(s) for the AAA team this first season will be all around individual and team performance. With the right motivation and mindset surprises are possible. Remote, but it would be fantastic securing a spot in the postseason.

Who are the players we should look out for this year?

Carlos Casal: We have a great group of skilled and experienced players equally important for the process. However, the young group of players in our roster are a strong acquisition who will need our support to progress during the year.

Which league game are you looking forward to most?

Carlos Casal: Every game where the weather is clear and in the right temperature, otherwise every game.

The postseason playoffs will be played at the brand new Farnham Park. Will this act as an even greater incentive for players to reach the postseason?

Carlos Casal: I think this is a great incentive for every team in each league to go and play postseason games in these new facilities as all eyes will be there during those days.

What is your message to Herts Baseball fans ahead of Opening day?

Carlos Casal: Get behind each team and every player in our club and where possible come to the games and cheer us on. We all promise an exciting season for the club this year.

Last month Herts Baseball Club confirmed the return of Carlos Casal to the club after a two-year spell at NBL rivals, Harlow Nationals. This evening the club announced that Casal has been appointed as the manager of the Herts Ravens, the club’s newly-formed fifth adult league team which will play in the AAA League this season.

We had an opportunity to speak with the new Ravens manager about the appointment and the season ahead.

This is the first season of the newly-created Herts Ravens. What should the rest of the AAA League expect from the team in 2013?

Carlos Casal: It is difficult to define the right strategy and expectations at this early stage, especially when I don’t know the teams in the division. However, discipline, right motivation and optimism are the main ingredients towards success. I won’t raise the bar too high but our success will be based in individual progress play by play and who knows, there may be a surprise. I had a quick look at these teams in the GB website and noticed some names in Spanish which suggests potential Latin American opponents, and also seems to be a big presence from London with equal international contingent…. As it should be, that isn’t a deterrent for our success. Remember, we are our own biggest enemies!

When the club announced that this fifth Herts team is entering the AAA league, the Board indicated that one of the main reasons for this was to fill the gap at the AAA-league level and help players progress through the leagues and develop. Will the team’s goal in 2013 be to win games, help the development of the club’s upcoming prospects, enjoy playing the game or perhaps all three?

Carlos Casal: Based on the choices given, the answers are in the following order: enjoy playing the game and help the development of the club’s upcoming prospects. However, remember that physical, mental and skills preparation are a key factor to achieve these goals.

What would be a realistic win-loss percentage target for the Ravens this year? Can the team challenge for a postseason spot?

Carlos Casal: Again, difficult to define. Our goal(s) for the AAA team this first season will be all around individual and team performance. As said before, with the right motivation and mindset surprises are possible. Remote, but it would be fantastic securing a spot in the postseason.

Who do you think are likely to be the strongest opponents in the AAA league this season?

Carlos Casal: Each one of us players of the Herts AAA team are our strongest opponents. The opposing team at any given weekend is as strong as our desire to fail.

Your appointment as the first Herts Ravens manager was confirmed this evening and we have less than five weeks before Opening Day. Does this give you sufficient time to assess the players and be ready for the first pitch of the league season?

Carlos Casal: It is certainly a big challenge putting together a team ready for competition in five weeks. However, in conjunction with the managers of the other Herts teams we believe we have sufficient experienced resources to create a good core for the AAA team. All the years I spent in the past with Herts as a player and adult coach helped me realise the potential with this group of players. In relation to the elite youth players added to the roster, I am happy with their inclusion which is a reflection of their improvement as youth players and their long jump towards adult’s standard baseball based on skills, physical and mental conditions in the baseball field. For these youth players and some new adult players added to the roster, the experience will come during the season with a big helping hand from the senior/experienced players within the team, and surely from some other experienced players scattered among the other top division teams in the club. In summary, yes we will be ready for the first pitch of the league season.

We understand that as soon as your appointment was confirmed you had to go straight into the process of determining the preliminary rosters of the five Herts adult league teams ahead of the Herts Spring League. Should we expect any surprises when the Ravens preliminary roster is announced?

Carlos Casal: Surprises are, for every team in the club, all down to players acceptance to join the team they have been selected to play for. The main highlight of the AAA team however, is the large contingent of elite youth players which include players from the Herts U17 team and players who are becoming 17-years-old this year.

You have previous experience of being a player-manager while you were in charge of the Herts Hawks. In football player-managers find it difficult to perform this dual role. Is it easier to do it in baseball?

Carlos Casal: That is right. Baseball gives you the possibility to perform managerial duties while playing. However, despite feeling with enough energy to keep performing at top level in baseball, this year I will reduce playing time as possible to give way to the development of our team.

You have been playing in the National Baseball League for the Herts Falcons and the Harlow Nationals in the last few seasons. Taking the AAA manager role will obviously make it difficult for you to battle for a spot on the club’s NBL roster. How difficult was it to make this decision?

Carlos Casal: I still feel that my experience, abilities and physical conditions allow me to fight for a spot at NBL in this country. However, with the progress of the sport the last few years and the interest created among the youth moving up and international players to come and play in the UK, it makes the life of any NBL manager a nightmare at the time of selecting a competitive team. I can’t deny that deep inside me I would like to face the best of the best in the NBL but I have taken a more pragmatic approach and use that energy to develop and make a successful Herts AAA team.

During the voting to decide the name of the Herts AAA League team last month, did you vote for the name “Ravens” or did you prefer one of the other names?

Carlos Casal: I have to be honest, I didn’t follow this voting poll as, sadly, all my internet time was focused in the current problems currently developing in Venezuela. I would have picked up another name but surely I will get used to this one.

Herts Baseball Club has announced that for the first time in its history it has entered a fifth team in the British senior baseball leagues. As recently as 2004 the club consisted of a single senior league team, the Herts Falcons. Eight years later the organisation has grown into one of the biggest clubs in the UK with four youth teams and now five adult teams.

With ten minutes before the deadline for teams to enter the British Leagues for the 2013 season, Herts submitted the entry of its fifth team. The team will play in the AAA league, which is the second tier of the British Baseball League system.

The other four Herts teams will play in the same leagues as they did in 2012 – Herts Falcons (NBL), Herts Hawks (AA), Herts Eagles (A) and Herts Raptors (A).

AAA was the only league tier which Herts was not represented in last season and Herts Falcons Manager, Lee Manning feels that this is a very significant step forward. “We have had a gap at AAA level over the last 2 seasons, which has made it more difficult for us to progress players through the leagues. For players who are on the fringe of the NBL roster it is difficult to get them NBL-ready by dropping them down two levels to the AA League. Now that the gap at AAA is filled we are in a much better position to retain these players and develop them” said Manning.

Herts Under-17 team manager, Cris Hiche, also feels that this will have a positive effect throughout the organisation and in particular the youth programme. “We are fortunate to have very good players coming through the Herts youth teams. Many of them are challenging for a place in the Great Britain National Teams and we know that the GB coaching staff puts great emphasis to involve these young players at the highest possible level. The AAA team gives our young players the stepping stone on their way to the NBL” said Hiche. He added that “the youth programme is the future for Herts and we need to put the right structure in place for our players to fulfil their potential and the addition of a AAA team is a necessary component of that structure”.

PROUD AAA TRADITION

This announcement however is not just about filling a gap purely for development purposes. Herts has had a very proud tradition at AAA League level over the years and everyone connected with the club will want to make sure that this continues with a winning season for the team.

The first appearance of a Herts team at AAA level was in 2005 when the Falcons were promoted to the second league tier which was known as the Premier League at the time. The Falcons didn’t reach the playoffs in that year but certainly proved to be one of the most difficult teams to beat. Even the formidable Cambridge Monarchs featuring players like Glen Goodrich and former St Louis Cardinals pitcher, Bob Runyon, found it difficult against the Falcons with the famous back-to-back-to-back home runs by Falcons legend, Jim Denison, at RAF Feltwell. A year later the Falcons were relegated back down to the AA league after losing in extra innings to the Burgess Hill Red Hats in a one-game relegation-promotion decider.

After the disappointment of relegation, the Falcons regrouped under the management of Bruce Dullea and won promotion straight back to the AAA. In 2008 they were the dominant force in AAA and Manager Jason Greenberg led the team to the AAA national championship title, which prompted the invitation for the Herts Falcons to join the National Baseball League.

2009 saw the birth of the Herts Eagles who entered the AAA league. A year later they made it to the AAA postseason playoffs and under the management of Lee Manning finished third behind second-placed, Oxford Kings and the champions, Liverpool Trojans.

Will the new Herts team manage to keep the club’s proud tradition at AAA League level?

MANAGERIAL APPOINTMENT

Today’s announcement means that the club will now begin the search for a manager of the new Herts AAA team. Will the club look to add a new name to the managerial team, or will it promote one of the managers of the other Herts teams? It is a decision which will require careful consideration and we understand that the club’s executive board has been assessing the situation in great detail.

THE NAME

The club has decided that the members and fans of Herts Baseball should be involved in the process of naming the new team. It will be done in three stages. The first stage commences today and it involves fans and members submitting names which will be voted on in stage two. You can submit a team name by posting on the Herts facebook page, the club’s forum, by email or via twitter by including the proposed team name along with @hertsbaseball in your tweet.

This first stage will end at midnight on February 3 and at that point the preliminary round of voting will begin. On February 10 the three most popular names will go through to the final and deciding voting round. The finalist which receives the highest number of votes will be confirmed as the name of the new Herts AAA team. So far the names of the Herts teams have stayed with the bird theme consistently. Will the fans choose an avian name again or will they go for something different?

OPEN TRYOUTS

As announced on Monday, Herts Baseball Club will be hosting tryouts on March 10 at Grovehill Ballpark. These are not just for players interested to play for the new Herts AAA team. The tryouts are open to players of any standard from those who have never thrown a baseball in their life, to experienced players looking to win a place with the Herts Falcons in the National Baseball League. Players must be 14 years of age or above on 31 December 2013. Tialists will undergo a series of tests and drills which will enable the coaching staff to assess the players before they make their roster picks later in that month ahead of Opening Day. Players interested to try out can actually get a head-start by joining the Herts teams in their Spring Training sessions which start this Sunday, 27 January. For more details contact us.

Players aged between 6 and 16 can look forward to joining up with the club’s youth league teams. The Spring Training dates for the youth teams are expected to be announced shortly. For more details of how to get involved with either the adult or the youth teams, please contact us.