Regensburg Baseball Bundesliga Team Ready to Dominate Season with New Additions and Strong Start

The Baseball Bundesliga is back in Regensburg. The first two home games of the season take place in the Armin Wolf Arena on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (2 p.m.). Opponent Mainz Athletics comes as league leaders.

This weekend, Regensburg baseball fans will have the opportunity to experience the strong new additions of the Legionnaires live for the first time this weekend. Opponent Mainz should arrive with a big chest. The Athletics were the only team that managed to win both games at the start last weekend.
The Guggenberg Legionnaires had to deal with the defending champions Heidenheim right from the start. Head coach Martin Helmig can live quite well with a record of one win and one defeat, “even if we of course always want more.” Especially in the second game against the Heideköpfe, Helmig’s team made it clear that the Regensburgers are a force to be reckoned with in the fight for the championship this year.

Targeted reinforcements

In order to be prepared for the title fight, the Regensburg team have specifically strengthened themselves. Particularly in demand: pitchers and power hitters with the necessary mentality to meet the demands of being a difference player.

The pitching rotation in particular has picked up quite a bit this year. With Christian Pedrol and Jan Tomek, two long-standing central figures have said goodbye to Regensburg. Joe Cedano de Leon, a national player, remains on board. The greatest hope in this regard is certainly the American Scott Harkin, known as The Shark.

The throwing shark recently performed so well in the highly rated Australian Baseball League that, despite an existing agreement with the Legionnaires, he received a whole series of very attractive offers from all over the world. But Harkin stuck to his decision. Already in his first appearance against Heidenheim, Scott Harkin showed why Regensburg really wanted him.

One of the new throwers is Luis Miguel Martin, a 23-year-old Cuban with a Spanish passport. Another very young but nevertheless very unusual newcomer is Konsta Kurikka. Despite his young age, the Finn has already had an entire career behind him. At 16, Kurikka was already playing in the first division of the Finnish national sport and baseball’s Pesäpallo, where he developed into a star in the following five seasons. Two years ago, Kurikka decided to switch to baseball. He already used his quick fastball against the Heidekopfs.

Abraham Da Silva Canico and Geremi Jimenez da Silva also experienced their Bundesliga premiere in Heidenheim. Both performed well. The versatile Nick Micelli played well in his first game for Regensburg. The Hartford-born Portuguese is well known in the Bundesliga and has also played for the Bonn Capitals and the Haar Disciples.

Lots of quality on offense

Terrell Joyce and Marlon Jimenez in particular should make the difference on offense. Both have been among the best batsmen in the Bundesliga in recent years. Joyce comes to Regensburg from the Bonn Capitals and he joined the Legionnaires with the additional recommendation of a spectacularly strong winter season in Australia. In the games against Heidenheim, the outfielder already indicated how important he could be for Regensburg.

The same applies to Jimenez, who demonstrated his strength at bat in the preparatory games and in the Clasico against the defending champions. The Spaniard with Cuban roots plays third base. The home premiere in the Legionnaires jersey has additional appeal for him because it is against his previous club Mainz.

Antonio Torres had a very strong first weekend. The American-born Greek shares the catcher job with Elias van Garßen. In the two games against Heidenheim, Torres impressed with six hits in eight attempts.

Pascal Amon is back

Starting this year, Edoardo Cornelli will be flying around in the Legionnaires’ infield. According to Helmig, the 17-year-old Italian is “one of the greatest talents in Europe” and comes to the Bundesliga from the Regensburg Baseball Academy.

Pascal Amon reported back strongly. The German international had to sit out the entire last season due to injury, but showed a very good performance against Heidenheim, especially in the second game.

Trust in permanent staff

The proven regular legionnaires continue to play a central role. This includes Legionnaires legend Matt Vance as well as Nino Sacasa and Eric Harms. Despite his young age, national team shortstop Alex Schmidt has long been a Bundesliga veteran and once again showed a whole series of impressive defensive plays against Heidenheim.

Devon Ramirez was the dominant player in the Legionnaires’ team in the playoffs and in the German Cup and is considered by many observers to be Regensburg’s MVP last season. He has a long history with newcomer Terrell Joyce. Ramirez and Joyce won the championship together in the Czech Republic years ago. They now want to do the same in Germany with the legionnaires.

Stronger than last year

All in all, Martin Helmig is convinced that his team is significantly stronger this year than last season. There the Guggenberg Legionnaires won the German Cup and qualified for the European Champions Cup. In the championship, however, the final stop was in the semi-finals. That should change this year.

2024-04-11 19:59:52
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