Member and Club Features From Around the Globe
Podcast / Stories / Video
Baseball Globetrotters (2023): Hidden gem in small town Czech
BBJO Globetrotters teammates, Ryan "RJ" Johnson, Jeff Costello, and Russ Strilchuk show us their set-up and the beautiful city of Trebic, Czech Republic. https://youtu.be/7TU32bRwe-E?si=ntu6HCR-pQL2sFr1 Not ready to hang them up? Seeking a new career path?Annually...
Member Spotlight: Mustachioed Malconian’s Journey to Japan
Last season, Matt Malconian started his overseas career in Germany with the Füssen Royal Bavarians, a slight change of scenery from his San Diego desk job. Matt had entered the corporate world after a club baseball career at San Diego State where he was the...
D1 Studs Sniff Out Epic Overseas Locations to Play Baseball
Patrick Cromwell and Andrew Cosgrove are a rare breed of BBJO member. Both of these talented former division one players from top programs decided to forgo the MLB dream and use their talents to play baseball in some of the most desirable places to live overseas. But...
This Vagabond Couple Met While Playing Baseball and Softball Overseas
They say traveling around the world is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is also said that finding your soulmate is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For Chelsea Cohen and Tyler Krobetzky, they were lucky enough to have those rare experiences match in a small period...
Baseball Globetrotters: Lifestyle Playing Seaside France
Three BBJO members and a fourth import take us inside one of the fastest-growing baseball clubs in France and a future French first-division contender. The footage takes place in 2018, their inaugural first season at France's top level. https://youtu.be/wfU24gDtg7INot...
Whether Opening for Green Day or Pitching at Dodgers Stadium, Scott Radinsky Brings It
Whether opening for Green Day or pitching at Dodgers Stadium, there is one thing for certain about Scott Radinsky........ he always brings it. In this episode, the former MLB pitcher and coach —who doubled as a punk rock singer for his band Pulley during the MLB...
CSU Bakersfield Stud Arm’s Mental Approach and 95mph FB Has Him in High Demand Overseas
Seattle-born, Ethan Skuija, has always been a dominant pitcher. He dominated as a kid growing up in Canada, in junior college in California, and in division one baseball playing for CSU Bakersfield. None of this changed since he decided to take his career overseas...
This French Pitcher Quickly Went from an Unknown Community College Pitcher to MLB Draft Pick
Mathias LaCombe is the embodiment of the old phrase “how quickly things can change”. At the beginning of this spring, he was a virtually unknown relief pitcher at a community college in a rural region of eastern Arizona who had trouble consistently throwing...
The Lennard Pietersz Story: From the Small Island of Curaçao to Japan via Austria
If the particulars of Lennard Pietersz’ journey thus far were set to a medley of songs, an appropriate title track would be “The Long and Winding Road”. The native of Curacao, a former Dutch colony in the Caribbean now a “constituent country” of the Kingdom of the...
This Player Signed in Japan with No Prior Professional Experience
Lenny Pietersz is a native of Curaçao who has always dreamed of playing professional baseball. He recently achieved that goal, but he had to invest in himself by flying to Japan to play in the Japan Winter League in November of 2022. After two junior college baseball...
Get Signed in Japan via the Japan Winter League
If you’re interested in playing baseball in Japan, the Japan Winter League is the perfect place to start. In this episode, Dave and Jimmy interview league president Issei Washizaki—via translator Hiro Sakanshi—and find out everything about the Japan Winter League that...
Jaz Shergill Discovered his True Calling While Playing in Africa
Baseball. Uganda. For the vast majority of people, those words would not seem to belong in the same sentence. Yet, they do. There is baseball in Uganda – more than one might think – and that’s thanks to people such as Jaz Shergill and others. Shergill is a native...
How This Cali Softball Player Became the Austrian National Team Coach
Gabriella Gonzalez represents a classic case of how quickly things can change. In a mere 11-day period back in 2016, her life’s path veered from typical to atypical. Gonzalez grew up in northern California and was a softball player and sometimes coach while...
This Pitcher’s Path to the Minors Was Through Semi-Pro Leagues in Canada, Australia and Germany
Former Appalachian State standout, Kaleb Bowman, found himself undrafted upon graduation and made the decision to travel the world and play baseball. This journey landed him in Canada that very same summer after graduating, playing in a five-team semi-professional...
There is Baseball Fever in the Czech Republic after World Baseball Classic
By participating for the first time in the recently completed World Baseball Classic, the Czech Republic’s national team checked off multiple items on its to-do list. “Before the tournament, we had three goals – increase the number of baseball fans in the Czech...
33 Year-Old Pitcher From Boise, Idaho Shuts Down South Korea at the WBC
Photo credit: Baseball CzechJeff Barto pitched against the South Korean National Team at the Tokyo Dome as a representative of the Czech National Team this past Saturday in World Baseball Classic pool play. He threw 5.2 innings in relief, surrendering only 2 hits and...
BBJO’s Sarah Edwards is the Newest Hitting Development Coach with the Phillies
There was a time not long ago that Sarah Edwards thought she might live in Italy the rest of her life. But it turned out that this was not the time. Instead, the rest of her life began March 1 in Clearwater, Florida, spring training home of Major League Baseball’s...
This Georgetown Alum Works Mobile While Traveling the World and Playing Ball
After wrapping up his college career at Georgetown University with a successful senior campaign which saw him hit .344 and lead the Big East Conference in slugging percentage, Steve Anderson was hopeful of being drafted. When that didn’t come to fruition, he opted to...
The Hoops this American Coach Jumped Through to Realize a Baseball Dream Will Inspire You
By David Burns December 1, 2022 After polling our newsletter and social media audience about the top coaches in Europe in 2022, a number of European and import coaches were nominated. Will Swindling’s story stood out to us as our first coach feature, not only because...
From No Professional Experience to Four Seasons Overseas to the Brewers
Written by: Carter Cromwell November 23, 2022 “The manager would like to see you in his office” is a line usually guaranteed to make a ballplayer think “uh, oh” and envision a trek to the guillotine. But in Kaleb Bowman’s case, it meant he would be moving onward and...
A decade of traveling and baseball and still going
As an indy pro pitcher in the Frontier League and American Association, Tim Brown spent his winters pitching in Australian state leagues — and some time in the ABL— for five straight years. Pitching year-round for five straight years. He even threw a no-hitter in the...
Heart and Grit Behind Czech National Team Advancing to the World Baseball Classic for the First Time
By Carter Cromwell October 15, 2022 When the World Baseball Classic begins next March, the Czechs will most likely be an underdog, but that won’t faze them. After all, the Czech team wasn’t a favorite before the recent qualifying round, but it proved adept at...
A Pitcher from Texas and a First Baseman From NYC Combine to Win a Championship in Europe
Brett Holtz is an Ivy League first baseman who had his college baseball career ripped away from him by COVID-19 and Alec Lemmon had hung up the cleats and got the travel bug while backpacking in Australia before deciding to combine his new passion with his old...
Finding Your Post-Playing Career Path: The Gretchen Aucoin Story
When Gretchen Aucoin was hired as minor-league player development coach by the New York Mets in January – thereby becoming the Mets’ first female on-field coach – it might have seemed the culmination of a long-held goal steadily worked toward over time. But it...
Locked Down in a Dreamland; The Logan Moreland International Softball Story
By Carter Cromwell April 5th, 2022 When Logan Moreland went to New Zealand in late 2019 to play softball, it was to be for just one season – get in, get out, go home. Pretty simple. Then Covid-19 happened, and things weren’t so clear-cut. Suddenly, the short-term...
Chasing Summer; The Gary Owens International Baseball Story
By Carter Cromwell April 25th, 2022 From very early on, Gary Owens had a vision – he knew he wanted to be a baseball player. But he couldn’t envision then how far the game could and would take him. At the time, his vision extended only to the boundaries of his...
Working in the offseason for summers in Europe playing baseball; This UCLA Bruin continues at 34
UCLA Bruin alumnus Eddie Murray (far right above) teaches in the offseason in order to play baseball in Europe during the summer. Eddie wrapped up his college career in 2009 but it wasn't until 2014 that he discover that baseball in Europe was a thing. He got his...
Haven’t played in three years? No problem, come hit leadoff, win a championship and coach our National Team
Photo Credit: jchristophestudio.fr In this episode, Baseball Jobs Overseas founder David Burns and co-host Jimmy Jensen interview Jacob Biller, a BBJO member who played his first season overseas in France in 2021 where he won a championship and even managed to get on...
After two years playing professionally in Japan, Lisa Maulden shares her experience
Seattle University alumna, Lisa Maulden, first took her career overseas in 2015 and never looked back. Her first few seasons overseas were in lower leagues including the Belgian second division and Hungarian Softball League before moving up the ranks to higher-level...
Repping The Motherland; the Erika Piancastelli Story
January 20, 2022 By Carter Cromwell Given that her father played baseball and her mother was a member of the 2000 Italian Olympic softball team, one could easily assume that Erika Piancastelli’s path to softball stardom was pre-ordained – mapped out early on and...