Germany before departure for the U23 baseball world championship in 2021

The German U23 national baseball team leaves on Monday evening for the U23 baseball world championship, which will be held from September 23 to October 2, 2021 in Hermosillo and Obregon, Mexico. The tournament was supposed to take place a year ago, but was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, when Germany qualified for the World Cup with a second place at the 2019 U23 European baseball championship. At the U23 European baseball championship held in August, Germany’s U23 came second again and is therefore already qualified for the next world championship. A total of 12 nations will take part in the 2021 U23 baseball world championship in Mexico. Germany is in preliminary group A together with hosts Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Czech Republic. The first game will take place on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. German time in Obregon against Chinese Taipei. National coach Steve Janssen nominated 24 players (full roster on page 2) for the U23 baseball world championship. Those born between 1997 and 2003 can participate. 21 of them are active in the German national leagues. One played in the Netherlands and two in the USA. With Pascal Amon, Marco Cardoso, Joe Cedano De Leon, David Grimes, Lou Helmig, Daniel Mendelsohn, Alexander Schmidt, Samuel Steigert, Lucas Traut and Yannic Wildenhain, ten players were also in action at the Men’s Baseball Championship and are traveling directly from Turin via Amsterdam to Mexico. “It’s a great opportunity for the U23 to play at this level. For most players it will be their first time at a World Cup. The level is significantly higher than at the European Championship. We will meet teams that have current AAA and AA players in their roster. Above all, because the postponement means it will actually be a U24 tournament, ”says national coach Steve Janssen. “It will also be interesting for us to see what level our players are at and how they will deal with the challenge. We’ll go from game to game trying to win one or the other. We look forward to the tournament. ”

After the preliminary round, which will consist of five games for each team, the top three from each group qualify for the so-called Super Round Robin of the top 6. The other teams also complete an everyone-against-everyone round, so that you can at least will complete eight games.

Squad of the German U23 baseball team 2021 for the World Cup:

Pascal Amon – Guggenberg Legionnaires Regensburg
Merlin Bendlin – Mannheim Tornadoes
Maurice Bendrien – Untouchables Paderborn
Marco Cardoso – Untouchables Paderborn
Joe Cedano De Leon – Stuttgart Reds
David Dinski – Munich-Haar Disciples
Fridolin Fink – Stuttgart Reds
David Grimes – Guggenberg Legionnaires Regensburg
Simon Groß – Oosterhout Twins / Netherlands
Nicolas Göbert – Untouchables Paderborn
Christopher Jay Hanson – Tampa / USA
Patrick Harrison – Untouchables Paderborn
Luca Helber – Tübingen Hawks
Lou Helmig – Heidenheim Heideköpfe
Luca Kloppenburg – Untouchables Paderborn
Danny Lankhorst – Bonn Capitals
Simon Liedtke – Heidenheim Heideköpfe
Daniel Mendelsohn – Füssen Royal Bavarians
Sebastian Oetterer – Saint Michael’s College / USA
Alexander Schmidt – Guggenberg Legionnaires Regensburg
Samuel Steigert – Bonn Capitals
Lucas Traut – Baldham Boars
Titus von Kapff – Munich-Haar Disciples
Yannick Wildenhain – Mainz Athletics

Trainers and supervisors:

Steve Janssen – national coach
Troy Williams – Assistant Coach
Clemens Cichocki – Assistant Coach
Kris Van Deuren – Assistant Coach
Wayne Ough – Assistant Coach
Simon Gühring – Assistan Coach
Christian Derveaux – Doctor
Jörn Bremer – Physiotherapist
Jannis Christ – Sports Director
All information about the U23 baseball world championship can be found on the website of the World Baseball and Softball Federation (WBSC) www.wbsc.orgAll information about German baseball can be found at www.baseball-softball.de.