Herts Baseball Club has been trying to delay making this announcement, hoping against hope that it will not happen, but it has now been confirmed that three-time National Baseball League MVP (Most Valuable Player), Ryan Bird, has moved to America.

Over the last 6 years he has been one of the most dominant baseball players in Great Britain. His name appears prominently at the top of the majority of the defensive and offensive NBL stats. He received immediate recognition, voted as the NBL’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008. This was his first season in the League and this achievement is even more significant given that this was a time of total domination by the amazing London Mets. In the following year Bird was once again voted as the League’s MVP, making him the first player to receive two MVP awards since the days of Simon Pole during the London Warriors era. In 2009 he was also the league’s home run champion with 5 dingers.

In 2012 he made a high-profile move to the Herts Falcons and the domination continued. In 2013 he was voted NBL MVP for a third time.

He has performed consistently throughout and he is the NBL leader in career batting average (.500), career on-base average (.572) and career slugging average (.808). His primary position is catcher, but he has also had a real impact as a pitcher. His career ERA is 2.72 with a record of 15 wins, 4 losses, 2 saves and, very notably, one of the highest strikeouts per nine innings ratios (16.4). Last season he pitched those memorable back-to-back no-hitters for the Falcons.

Ryan Bird won his second NBL MVP award in 2009 as a Richmond player

This season’s opening game against the London Mets was his last for the Falcons before his move to the USA and he said good bye to the fans with another outstanding performance going 4-4 with a home run which probably is still hovering somewhere over St Albans.

NBL statistics courtesy of ProjectCOBB.org.uk

Bird’s departure is a major blow not just to Herts Falcons but to British baseball as a whole which needs players like him to fill the ballparks around the country.

This is one of several high-profile departures for the Falcons this season. Dave House, Jordan Farkas, Robbie Unsell and Xavi Gonzalez are all moving overseas. The start of the year for the Falcons has felt a lot like the opening scene of the Oscar-nominated movie Moneyball as staff at the Oakland Coliseum were removing the large banners of Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen.

Xavi Gonzalez is another Herts Falcons player who is playing overseas with the Stuttgart Reds this season

However, losing these big players also means that the door is open at Herts for the new stars to rise to the top of British baseball. The addition of players like Abel Salas and Jamie Gregory has been a major boost helping manager Lee Manning to start rebuilding the roster. Last week Herts fans had an extra boost seeing video footage of catcher Andrew Fulford preparing in Tampa Florida for his upcoming NBL debut. Manning has also shown faith in the club’s talented young players. Carlos Casal Jr, Conner Brown and Tom Everex-Armstrong joined Liam Green to make their NBL debuts in 2013 and this year they have been joined by Will Zucker, with more youngsters pushing hard with the club’s Triple-A team. We will have to wait and see how far these players will go over the next few years and if they will be the next Ryan Birds of British baseball.

 

Cris Hiche greeted at home after his grand slam which started an almighty comeback (photo by Richard Lee richardleephotography.org)

If the Opening Day games between the Herts Falcons and the London Mets are an indicator of what is to come this season, fans of British baseball would be advised to buckle up as we are in for a wild ride. The games had everything – incredible comebacks, home runs, gutsy pitching performances, heroic plays, heavy collisions and more.

Usually batters take a little longer to get back up to full speed after the winter offseason and pitchers hold the advantage in the first few weeks of the season, but that was turned on its head as hitting dominated throughout despite facing some of the best pitchers from the 2013 season. The starters in game one were Mike Osborne for Herts (6-0 and ERA 1.12 in 2013) and Sam Sproule for London (1-1, ERA 1.91 in 2013), but batters didn’t appear too concerned about those numbers. The Mets took an early 10-2 lead although it must be pointed out that most of these were unearned runs as the Falcons’ new look defence was still finding its feet. “It will take a little more time for us to tune up our defence after losing several key players who moved overseas” said Falcons manager Lee Manning. The Mets conceded an average of 3.36 runs per game last season so it would have been a natural reaction for Herts heads to drop and accept defeat. It was also interesting to see how the squad would react to such a score line. With so many new faces and a much lower average age there was a risk that there would be a negative effect on confidence and team spirit, but that wasn’t the case. In the bottom of the third inning Herts showed that they cannot be written off under any circumstance. A grand slam home run by Cris Hiche to centerfield, 2-run double by Jamie Gregory and a sacrifice fly by Carlos Casal Jr, brought in 7 runs reducing the deficit to 1 run. In the fifth inning a towering 2-run home run by 2013 NBL MVP, Ryan Bird, hits by Abel Salas, Darrin Ward and a sacrifice fly by Dave Tretheway gave Falcons a 13-11 lead.

The Mets responded in a big way not only to come back from this but to build an unassailable lead winning the game 23-13. This included a home run by Martin Tucker and a very scary moment when London outfielders Jonathan Cramman and Josh Saunders made a brave attempt to make a diving catch which resulted in a very serious collision requiring a 10-minute delay while treating both players. Thankfully, both managed to recover and seemed in good shape by the end of the day. There was also an injury to Ryan Bird which seemed innocuous but which may take him more time to recover from. The Falcons had to go into the second game without Bird as he had to be taken out of the lineup.

Abel Salas was the starting pitcher for Herts in game two and he went the distance. The Mets took an early 6-0 lead which included a grand slam home run by Zach Stroman, but from that point Salas was in control of the game and produced a battling performance which gave his team the opportunity to win. To do this, they needed their offence to get back into the game against the London Mets’ best pitcher of 2013, Pietro Sollecito. They responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the first and 3 in the second inning to take a 7-6 lead and added an eighth run in the third inning. The Mets came back to tie it at 8-8 in the fifth only for Herts to retake the lead in the bottom of that inning with 3 more runs. With darkness gradually setting in, both teams knew that the game can be called at any moment so the Falcons needed to keep that lead at any cost. The Mets scored two in the top of the sixth inning but Abel Salas produced two key strikeouts in the final inning to end the game stranding London’s tying run at third base and securing a win for Herts.

“After such an outstanding comeback in the first game we felt that we missed a good opportunity, but we showed character to respond in the second game especially as the team had to do it without the injured Ryan Bird and it is a positive sign that we have players who can step up in difficult situations with the game on the line” said Herts Falcons Manager, Lee Manning.

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.

 

Great Britain Under-19 National Team third baseman and right-handed pitcher, Jamie Gregory, has joined Herts. He is the third big signing for the club after Abelardo Salas and Andrew Fulford joined this Spring.

Gregory started his career with the Essex Redbacks as a member of their Under-17 league team. At the age of 16 he was already a member of the Redbacks first team making his debut in the Triple-A League which is the second league tier in British baseball. His talent was recognised early by the Great Britain National Team and he was added to the GB Under-19 squad with whom he took part in the tour of South Africa.

The six-feet-three-inch righty made his debut in the National Baseball League in 2013 with the Essex Arrows. He was utilised as a relief pitcher but played predominantly at third base. He had a batting average of .261 and a slugging average of .333, driving in 12 runs.

Gregory is 18-years-old and it is an exciting prospect for Herts fans to see how this young talent will develop both as a member of Herts and with the Great Britain National Team. “I greatly look forward to joining such a well established and ever growing baseball club as Herts” said Gregory.

He is expected to make his debut in the Herts Spring League pre-season games which commence on 22 and 23 March.

 

Herts have confirmed another player acquisition as they prepare for the 2014 baseball season. Andrew Fulford hit the headlines in 2012 when he helped the Herts Hawks reach the Double-A National Championship Semi-Final. He will be back in a Herts uniform again this year.

During the 2012 season the Herts’ coaching staff had a difficult decision to make. Should they add him to the Herts Falcons roster in the National Baseball League or to one of the club’s minor league teams? With only a few more games remaining for the Herts Falcons, Fulford would not have been able to meet the postseason requirement of playing in 45% of the Falcons’ regular season games. However, the 45% requirement does not apply at Double-A League level and there were sufficient number of games left for Fulford to meet the 20% postseason eligibility. On the basis of this the coaches decided to add the American to the Hawks roster. The team was in the middle of an almighty playoff battle with the Sidewinders, London Mammoths and the Daws Hill Spitfires. He proved to be a key player for the team as they surprised everyone going all the way to the National Semi-Finals where they lost to the eventual winners, Nottingham.

In the five games which he played for Herts in 2012, Fulford hit two home runs and had .571 batting average, 1.214 slugging average, .682 on-base average, with 15 runs batted in. He also proved to be one of the outstanding catchers in the league throwing out 5 out of 12 stolen base attempts.

Hawks fans will be hoping that Andrew Fulford will be able to appear for the Hawks, but this is highly unlikely. Fulford is expected to go into the Falcons roster, especially as the Falcons have several vacant spots in the lineup which they need to fill.

Andrew Fulford is 23-years-old. His primary position is catcher. He has also played in second base, and can fit pretty much anywhere else in the field. He started playing when he was 4. After spending his early years in the Citrus Park Little League, Fulford went on to play for the varsity team at Sickles High School and later with Cambridge High School finishing as Florida Sate runners-up in 2009. During his career he has played under former MLB players Jody Reed, who played as second basemen for the Boston Red Sox, and Sam Marsonek who was a pitcher with the New York Yankees.

Fulford comes from Tampa, Florida, but his wife is from Hemel Hempstead so he will be in the UK available for selection for certain weeks over the course of the season. He may be eligible to play for the Great Britain national team and it will be interesting to see whether he will be able to attract interest from the GB national team coaches in time for the European Championships in September.