World Bats

At World Bats it’s our goal to inform our readers that not only is there baseball outside of the United States, but good baseball at that.  We want to bring you the happenings of the game from the four corners of the globe.  With that in mind, this is the first entry in our series about players who have played internationally.  We have met several people who have played or coached on three other continents and we are going to tell you about their experiences and compare them with what we’ve come to expect in the United States.

For those of you who may not know, as Major League Baseball is wrapping up the World Series there are other leagues kicking off their seasons.  Winter ball has long been a staple of the professional ball player’s calendar.  Perhaps the most well-known Winter League event is the Caribbean Series.  The Caribbean Series (Serie del Caribe) is a tournament held annually in February featuring the champion from the winter leagues of Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic.  The first tournament was held in 1949.  The event has been a major source of pride among the millions of fans who follow Latin American baseball.

The subject of our first post in this series is a right-hander from South Florida by the name of Dave Austen.  Austen was a 15^th round selection by the Anaheim Angels in 2003 from the University of South Florida.  He rose through the ranks quickly and received an invite to Big League camp in ’06.  A shoulder injury followed by a thumb injury in his first game back put him out of action for almost a year and a half.  Austen’s 2007 season was a bit of a struggle as he came back from the injuries, but he followed it up with a strong Arizona Fall League.  In 2008 Austen pitched for AA Little Rock and AAA Salt Lake City.  He was a member of the AA Champion Little Rock team.  Following the championship in Little Rock Austen began his winter season in Venezuela with Águilas del Zulia.

Austen’s journey to Winter Ball in Venezuela started with a conversation with team mates about their experiences in Winter Ball and how they enjoyed it.  A quick call to his agent, and two weeks later Austen found himself outside of the US for the first time.  His team mates raved about their experiences so much that Austen knew he had to give it a shot; the salary bump certainly didn’t hurt either.

Venezuela sits on the Caribbean Sea on the Northern coast of South America and for fifty years has produced incredible baseball talent.  Stars like Davey Concepcion, Miguel Cabrera, Johan Santana, Andres Galarraga, Omar Vizquel, and Luis Aparicio all hail from Venezuela.  The eight team Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional is the top league in the country.  The competition is comparable to AAAA, better than AAA, but not quite Major League.  There are many players currently on Major League rosters.  In fact, Carlos Gonzalez, who finished third on the 2010 NL MVP ballot, was a team mate of Austen’s.  The league plays a 70 game season.  This short season means that the pressure is high from the get go.  There is no time for a team to find its way and ease into the season.  Player contracts are guaranteed for only 30 days and there are plenty of players eager to take the roster spot of an underachiever.  Each team carries 35 men on its roster, with 25 active on game day.  This allows managers to deactivate all but that day’s starting pitcher.  Managers therefore load up on the bullpen arms.  With a bevy of relievers available, pitching changes abound and the length of the games can easily surpass four hours.

The Venezuelan stadiums are, to be kind, unimpressive.  There are no amenities like stadiums in the US.  You will not find any luxury suites, nor will you find an exotic food menu to choose from.  The club houses are tiny by American standards and according to Austen; none of them have showers with an adequate hot water supply.  In Austen’s experience, though, the passion and enthusiasm of the fans surpasses anything he has seen in the US.  Attendance figures dwarf any Minor League stadium and several Major League clubs.  Crowds usually are usually between 25,000 and 35,000 people.  However, if you happened to walk into one of those stadiums blind-folded you might think it was closer to 50,000 or 60,000.  Austen noted that he had never seen anything like the enthusiasm these fans brought to each and every pitch.  He told us that as a starting pitcher he “fed off the energy of the crowd.  They made every single inning important.”  Austen contrasted this enthusiasm with the small and quiet crowds in Salt Lake City where a July 4^th game might draw 15,000 and sound like 10,000.  He said the crowd impacted him so much that when he returned to the US for the 2009 season he had a hard time getting up for his starts.  “Coming back to Salt Lake City after my first year, it was tough to get myself up for the game.  The environment was dead.  I could hear conversations in the stands from the mound.  The only time the Americans would go crazy was on a home run.  Down there, you strike out the first batter of the game and it’s like you struck out the last guy in the ninth.  You’re constantly feeding off the crowd down there from the first pitch.  Coming back was like coming off of a high.”

Austen told us that while his experience was great, not everyone enjoyed their time like he did.  There were Americans who didn’t have an enjoyable time like Austen, but he believes the two reasons he enjoyed his time in Venezuela are because he pitched well and he tried to fit in.  In sports, when you’re performing well the fans love you.  Austen certainly performed well in 2008-2009.  He was named the league’s top pitcher, so he certainly endeared himself to the fans.  The other reason he gives is that he really tried to blend in with his team mates.  Austen gave interviews in Spanish, ate Venezuelan food, and did everything he could to be a part of the social circle.  He told us that the guys who isolated themselves were the ones who were miserable and didn’t enjoy themselves.  Austen believes that one of the reasons he was able to fit in was because of where he grew up in South Florida.  As a youth and during his college days he was around many Spanish speaking people.  He believes that exposure to the culture from a young age certainly aided his ability and desire to be a part of the culture in Venezuela.  One thing that he did mention though that despite years of being amongst Latins in Florida was that in Venezuela they are definitely on “Spanish time”.  Austen told us that there were no clocks at the hotels, in the club houses, at the stadiums, or anywhere for that matter.  Games that were scheduled for 7:05 routinely started at 7:12 or 7:15.  That was not only a culture shock to Dave, but also an annoyance as a starting pitcher with a routine.

All in all, Austen said he loved his two seasons in Venezuela.  He performed exceptionally well his first year and even though his second year didn’t produce the same results he was pleased.  Austen knew going in to it that it was likely going to be his last go around as a professional baseball player and he was happy to go out on his terms.   Austen is currently a free agent and working as pitching coach in Parkland, Florida.  He lives in Coral Springs, Florida with his wife and two children.