Game operations in the 1st Baseball Bundesliga will start in just under two months. On Saturday, February 4, 2023, Bundesliga editor Marcel Eßers was a guest at Ballpark DC – home of the Dohren Wild Farmers – and spoke to head coach Jan Hassenpflug about the direction, goals and squad for the coming season.
baseball-bundesliga.de: Let’s start with a review of the past season. I qualified you for the playoffs on the last day of the regular season and had to play the southern champions from Regensburg in the first round. You clearly lost the best-of-5 series 3:0. How do you rate the season? What was your goal and did you achieve it?
Jan Hassenpflug: Our original goal was to qualify for the playoffs. Incidentally, that will also be the goal for the coming season. I think we’ve gotten rid of the underdog role in our Nord squadron now. The challenge for our small club is the same every year: We have to get the maximum out of the available funds. Unfortunately, that didn’t go so well last year. Due to a few injuries, our squad didn’t have the depth that a coach wants.
Nevertheless, we reached our goal on the last day of the game and were allowed to go to Regensburg to play against the legionnaires in the fourth final. Unfortunately, we got a bit underwhelmed in the first game, but the second was much better and in the third game – here in Dohren – it was even possible to win for a long time. In the end, the difference was only two or three points. In any case, we did well.
But now we still have to wait for our first playoff win, which is another goal for the new season in addition to the playoff qualification. We finally want to celebrate a success here.
baseball-bundesliga.de: Is there any news about your Bundesliga squad for 2023? Who is going? Who comes? who stays
Jan Hassenpflug: We always bring in two imported players for the season – of course for the Bundesliga team, but also for the coaching staff and to support the youth sector. We were unlucky last year because both import players got injured. The result was that we had to go through six games without imports. We have already noticed that we are dependent on them.
The import players from last season will not come back. We have already signed two new players. Our new catcher’s name is Yodai Nakamura. We are also planning the return of Roldan Ochoa, who filled in for us last summer. He had an outstanding season in the Bundesliga (Editor’s note: Best Pitcher North 2022) and has now pitched very well over the winter in South America.
Paul Hoff will leave us. He has not yet been a regular in the 1. Herren, but had a few brief appearances in 2022. Paul joins the Hamburg Stealers.
With Philipp Meyer we get a pitcher. Philipp is originally from Dohren and left us for the sports boarding school in Regensburg. Now he has a new job, is moving to Hamburg with his girlfriend and will play for us next season.
Wild Farmers head coach Jan Hassenpflug (left) in an interview with Bundesliga editor Marcel Eßers (right)
baseball-bundesliga.de: Most teams have already announced their first arrivals and departures. As of today, how do you rate your five opponents from the North Squadron?
Jan Hassenpflug: Basically, I always focus on our team and see how we can best position ourselves for the new season. But of course I also get a lot from the other clubs. For example, I recently learned through social media that Max Schmitz has resigned as head coach at the Capitals and that Wilson Lee is taking over his duties. I was very surprised about that. In addition, Adrian Stommel and Maurice Wilhelm retired. I’m curious to see how the people of Bonn are positioning themselves for the season.
Paderborn seems to be very consistent. A young team which, in my opinion, will be very strong this year with the tailwind of the ‘German Vice Champion’.
I rate the Stealers as very strong again this year. They’ve already announced a few names on their website, including Cardoso, a Japanese pitcher (Editor’s note: Yasutomo Kubo) and also reinforcements in the infield (Editor’s note: Pablo González). It reads very well on paper.
There is a new head coach in Cologne (Editor’s note: Don Freeman), who has a lot of experience. His predecessor was Kazusa Katayama. I was still playing against him back then. A very likeable guy. Although the Cologne team has been playing together for a number of years, it is still a young group. I’m curious to see what the new coach will bring out of it.
I haven’t heard much from Berlin yet. Only that Tim Wägner has ended his career. Berlin is currently still a surprise bag. I think they have always had a lot of imports in their squad in recent years. I’m curious if they stay or if new imports come.
baseball-bundesliga.de: What are your goals for the 2023 season?
Jan Hassenpflug: Basically, our goal is always the integration of our own offspring. That makes us strong in the long term. Instead of putting together a team with seven or eight imported players, we try to put our own lads on the field to form a powerful squad and supplement them with imports in a meaningful way. In addition, we want to qualify for the playoffs again and finally get our first playoff win.
