News Archive
Monday, May 19, 2008 |14:21 |Age: 2 yrs
MLB European Academy Try-Outs
By: MLBFrom 30 April – 8 May, Major League Baseball and the MLB Scouting Bureau held a series of try-outs for the 2008 MLB European Academy. In total, 260 players from 18 nations attended the try-outs which took place at six locations:
• April 30 – Toulouse, France and Tirrenia, Italy
• May 2 – Stockholm, Sweden
• May 6 – Prague, Czech Republic
• May 7 – Amsterdam, Holland
• May 8 – Bad Homburg, Germany
All players were between 14 – 20 years old and some of those attending travelled as far as 24 hours to have a shot at the Academy. Everyone who participated was put through a workout session which evaluated their running, fielding and throwing, batting and pitching.
The sessions were run by MLB staff and headed by professional scouts from the MLB Scouting Bureau. The Scouting Bureau provides information for all 30 clubs and will provide reports on each player to the clubs. Additionally, scouts from 12 MLB organisations attended the sessions, each keen to observe the best young talent in the region.
The try-out sessions included a special guest this year as former MLB All-Star Bruce Hurst accompanied the tour. Hurst, who serves as head pitching coach at the MLB European Academy, helped evaluate the pitchers and ran special pitching clinics at four of the sessions. He was particularly impressed by the quality of the players attending the try-outs: “We’ve been coming to Europe for many years now, and each year the talent levels get better and better. This year could be our best Academy yet.”
55 players, including several from Africa, will be selected for the MLB European Academy in the coming weeks. Federations will be informed of the selections by the end of May.
