Dennis Kelly takes us through his experiences playing baseball in Sweden (Karlskoga Bats), France (Montpellier Barracudas), Australia (Sandringham Royals) and Germany (Mannheim Tornados). If you are lacking in motivation to play baseball overseas, listen to Dennis tell his story which took him from the beaches of Australia  to the beaches off the coast of France all within one year.

He provides insight on how he was able to see so much of the world while playing baseball and also provides advice on positioning yourself to be able to do the same. Dennis also let’s us in on the details of some of his contracts and the unique contracts that were offered from country to country. Lastly, Dennis does a very good job of comparing the level of ball within these countries.

Four countries and baseball year-round with Dennis Kelly

Baseball is the fastest growing sport in New Zealand as numbers have risen from 800 to 6000 in the past three years.  Also, the level of play on the national level is rapidly increasing as New Zealand climbed in the world rankings in the past year from unranked to 28th.

CEO of Baseball New Zealand, Ryan Flynn, informs us in this episodes of how this exponential growth has opened up opportunities for import baseball players and coaches to take their career to New Zealand. He provides insight into what they are looking for and how you can go about getting a chance to ride this baseball wave to a long term career in baseball on and off the field.

Baseball New Zealand With CEO Ryan Flynn

https://baseballjobsoverseas.com/kaleb-bowman-podcast-interview/
A former Kaleb 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 men's league in New Brunswick. After that season, Kaleb hopped on a plane to play for Surfers Paradise Baseball Club on the beautiful gold coast of Australia. After back-to-back very successful seasons overseas —including a single-season strikeout record in Australia— Kaleb took the summer of 2020 off along with the 2020-2021 winter. It was during this time that Kaleb worked hard at taking his game to a new level while also signing with the Regensburg Legionäre, a premiere club in Germany that has produced the likes of Max Kepler and Donald Lutz.

Kaleb's hard work paid off, as he was named the German Bundesliga "Pitcher of the Year" in 2021 and 2022 in his two seasons with Regensburg and the league MVP & Triple Crown (Pitching) winner in 2022. Kaleb leveraged this success, and his Twitter account, to get noticed by the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League, the team with which he signed and finished the 2022 season.

However, the success didn't stop there as Kaleb picked up where he left off, despite pitching against many players with MLB experience. In his 10 innings of relief with the Honey Hunters, Kaleb struck out 11 and produced a stingy era of 0.90. This didn't go unnoticed and led to his first-ever MLB contract, signing with the Milwaukee Brewers to play the 2023 season.

In this episode, Kaleb dives into his unusual path to the minor leagues including his off-season program and how he took his game to a new level. He also shares how he utilized Twitter to get noticed by pro scouts. A strong theme throughout this episode is Kaleb's strong mental approach to his career, with an open mind towards overseas baseball while still grinding towards the MLB dream.

2023 UPDATE:

"Spring training went great," said Bowman on April 5th, 2023. "I got to go out early, so I was there for 6 weeks. About 40 minor leaguers arrived when the big leaguers did and got the extra spring training. Including practicing with the big leaguers and getting to pick their brains some."


Kaleb was fortunate enough to back up 10 of the big league games.


"Sure enough, my first ever affiliate appearance was in a big league (spring) game!"


Kaleb came in with a man on 3rd and two outs, facing the Guardians' #6 prospect Bryan Rocchio. He threw 3 pitches for 3 strikes and a strikeout.
With about 3 weeks left, the rest of the minor league players came and they continued to scrimmage, play other affiliates, and practice daily.


"It was just an awesome experience that I was told by many different people to just soak it all in, and I sure did that."

This pitcher's path to the minors was through semi-pro leagues in Canada, Australia and Germany

The Baseball Jobs Overseas Podcast features the stories of professional baseball players and coaches who have taken their careers overseas. The purpose of the podcast is to shed light on all the opportunities that exist overseas within the game and the lifestyles that come with it. Hosts David Burns (Canada) and Jimmy Jensen (USA) both live in Salzburg, Austria, and are the key people behind http://www.BaseballJobsOverseas.com, a platform where players and coaches can connect with clubs around the world.

This pitcher's path to the minors was through semi-pro leagues in Canada, Australia and Germany

Baseball Jobs Overseas Podcast

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