DOWNUNDER TRAVELLERS INAUGURAL SHOWCASE
March 2019 - Florida, USA
Our team consisted of players from NSW, ACT, Vic., SA and Qld who were 16 - 19 years of age. Our players had state and country representative experience as well as players from ABL rosters.
The showcase kicked off with an international tournament. We won the first game of tournament against Puerto Rico, 24 hours after the players arrived in the country! Our success in this tournament continued with us also beating a strong Canadian team.
We met again with the Puerto Rico team in the grand final and win! The Downunder Travellers played hard and showed the world what Aussie baseball players are made of.
A benefit of the showcase being held in Florida in the US spring is the MLB Spring Training games. The Downunder Travellers watched Nationals vs Cardinals at Jupiter and Marlins vs Nationals at FITTEAM Ballpark.
Zeck Lemond (Padres 3rd round pick out of Rice University, ex Miami Marlins and ABL pitcher) took time out of his spring training schedule to come and pump the guys up before their game. Zeck download some gems and took questions with the players.
Michael Hill, president of baseball operations at the Miami Marlins spent time with the team speaking with and answering questions from the team.
We played and won our game in the main 6,500 seat stadium at Historic Dodgertown. It is the same stadium, facilities and dorms that previous Dodgers greats have played at, eaten and stayed in, guys like Jackie Robinson! Historic Dodgertown was taken over by MLB in January this year.
We toured and spoke with student advisors at Lynn University in Boca Raton and St Thomas University in Miami Gardens. This is an important inclusion in the tour for those players with college aspirations as it gives them a taste of student life, gives them the chance to speak with student advisors and coaches directly and to see all the facilities.
The Downunder Travellers went down to St Thomas in one of the four total losses of the tour. St Thomas is one of the best NAIA schools in the USA, they regularly go to the World Series. Although we lost, it was a great experience for the players to face a strong 4 year college to get a test of the competition they will be facing in college.
Words cannot express of how proud we are of how the boys went on this showcase. Here is a summary of their achievemenents:
Winning 20 out of 24 games played in a 3 week period.
Winning an international tournament.
Games and wins against independent teams, strong 4 year colleges, international teams from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Canada, Columbia and the US.
Six players will be heading to college in the US following the trip. Four of these commitments were as a result of the trip, which the majority are full scholarships to Division 1 schools. The younger players are now on the radar of college coaches for next year.
2 showcases in front of MLB scouts, including 3 teams that don't have scouts in Australia.
Contact from over 125 US colleges about our players.
Beating independent team the Blacksox, which is the team ex NBA star Michael Jordan played for! Our 16 - 19 year old players played against players 5-8 years older than them who have played professional and college baseball, and won.
One player was picked up to play in an international showcase tournament which will be held at Fenway Park in Boston.
