The past month of Czech Republic senior national team baseball is, quite frankly, hard to put into exact words. Not a lot of words can do justice to the amazing, emotional experience that the players and coaching staff and fans of Czech baseball became a part of. At the end of it all, was a great step forward for the baseball in this country. Our goal was to create a team of hungry, dedicated, passionate players that played together for our goals of medaling at the European Championships. We competed at the highest level of European baseball at the Italian Baseball Week and the European Championships, going toe-to-toe (three ending in tiebreakers) with all four countries (Italy, Holland, Spain and Germany) that finished ahead of us at the Euro Championships, including beating the World Champion Netherlands in Rotterdam. We finished our with two games in the prestigious World Baseball Classic Qualifier, which was the ultimate test for the players and a true experience for the fans of baseball in Czech Republic. In my opinion, we did take a giant leap forward, and one that we can only hope continues for the future.

Winter Season:

Technika Brno Camp Oct. 22-23, 2011

The first real test for the Winter Season, was our late October camp last year at Technika Brno. We had 19 guys for this two-day event and it was the first real look at what guys wanted to be committed to the 2012 season, goals and coaching staff. The weather was a bit cold, but we got a lot of things accomplished at the camp with hitting and defense, including a live scrimmage at the end. The CBA provided the players with accommodation near the field and the camp was a success building into the Winter off-season program workouts, where our goals for the players were to build speed and strength for the busy 2012 season. On hand for the camp were Greg McCarthy and Ales Navratil for coaching staff. In attendance for players:

Blazek, Baroch, Bokaj, Drabek, Drong, Dubovy, Gajdos, Hajtmar, Hernandez, Hejma, Husek, Chroust R., Janicek, T., Janicek, T., Jelinek, M., Kovarik, J., Nemec, Rehacek, Sladek, Vystrcil

Offseason Winter Program Workouts in December and February:

We put together an off-season strength and conditioning program for the National team guys to follow from the program I have from MLB and Jeff Krushell. Guys had access to this program via the internet and the national team site on Facebook and from copies brought to Brno and to guys in Prague. It was mandatory that any players interested in competing on the Senior National team attend these workout sessions or have a valid excuse why they couldn’t attend. We held workouts and tested in speed, agility and strength in Brno and Prague on December 10 and 11 with Ales Navratil, Lucie Cubikova and myself in attendance for the testings. We held testings again in February, where Ales Navratil, Greg McCarthy and Lucie Cubikova conducted the testings. In attendance at these sessions for players were:

Baroch, Blazek, Bokaj, Budsky, Cech, Marek Cervenka, Drabek, Drong, Dubovy, Felkl, Gajdos, Hejma, Homolka, Premek Chroust, Radim Chroust, Tomas Janicek, V. Jelinek, Jonak, Kovarik, Kubat, Malik, P. Minarik, Nemec, Polansky, Rehacek, Sladek, Stritecky, Sucha, Tomek, Toufar, Vesely, Vojak, Vystrcil

March 10-11 Trainings in Prague and Brno:

We had a weekend workout in Brno and Prague with players selected to the spring training in Parma. All 25 players selected for the trip and also Jan Felkl of Draci Brno came to the workouts. It was a chance for us to meet again after the winter season to see how guys came back in shape and also prepare them for the goals of spring training and the schedule ideas for the rest of 2012. We did agilities, threw, and did defensive work with the pitchers. Players received their equipment bags and uniforms from Lucie Cubikova and the CBA. Ales Navratil, Greg McCarthy and myself were in attendance for the workouts.

2012 Spring Training in Parma:

The Czech Senior National team held their 2012 spring training in Parma, Italy from March 12-18, which we traveled by bus. It was a successful trip for our national team for many reasons. We were able to get outside and train as a team for the first time together in good weather and we were able to play four exhibition matches against quality competition early on in the season. The goal of the trip was to test the 25-players selected and meet with them also individually to see how they fit into the coaching staff’s plans for the 2012 season. Coaches in attendance were Greg McCarthy, Ales Navratil and myself and from the CBA, Lucie Cubikova. Players on the spring training roster were:

Baroch, Blazek, Bokaj, Budsky, Drabek, Drong, Dubovy, Gajdos, Hajtmar, Hejma, Homolka, P. Chroust, R. Chroust, T. Janicek, Malik, P. Minarik, Nemec, Rehacek, Stritecky, Tomek, Toufar, Vesely, Toufar, Vojak, Vystrcil.

We were hosted by Italian A-League power ASD Parma and were able to use their field and complex for the entire week. It was a great set-up and we were able to get in multiple practices a day, working on everything we needed to.

We played our first game on Thursday, March 15th, traveling to club team’s Collechio field for a night game. Our pitching and defense played well all night, as pitchers Jan Blazek, Petr Minarik, Martin Stritecky and Radim Chroust combined for a shutout in a 14-0 win. Our offense was led by Jakub Malik and Matej Hejma, who hit a towering homerun over centerfield in one of the highlights. Milan Vystrcil scored the games first runs with a clutch two-out hit. The lights went out at the stadium late in the game, but came back on after a delay and we finished the game in fine form.

In game two, we played another night game against ASD Parma. We played one bad inning of defense, that led to all of Parma’s four runs. Pitchers were very effective in the game, with Boris Bokaj starting, and the relief pitching of Marian Gajdos, Jan Homolka and Jan Rehacek. Top hitters were Pavel Budsk and Martin Vesely. We lost the game 4-2.

In game three, we played ASD Parma at a neutral field at Colorno and defeated them 8-3. We played strong as a team, led by great hitting performances of Vesely, Budsky, Hejma and Jan Drabek. Budsky had a long homerun and four RBI’s in the win. The pitching of Jakub Toufar, Jan Tomek, Petr Minarik and Jan Blazek kept the Parma bats quiet. It was a solid win for the team.

We finished the trip with a hard-fought 5-4 win over Parma’s second team. Pitchers were Gajdos, Bokaj, Stritecky, Homolka, Rehacek and Chroust. Chroust came in relief in the 8th and pitched out of trouble to get the save. He also picked off the tying run at 2nd base in the 9th to end the game. Top hitters were Martin Drong, Matej Hejma, Basilio Hernandez, Premek Chroust and Tomas Janicek. For the 4-game set, we had 54 quality at bats in those games, led by Hejma’s 11 quality at bats. Martin Vesely had 7, Budsky 6 and Jakub Malik 5. Our pitchers threw 29 quality innings in 35 innings pitched, led by Jan Blazek with four. We also made many hustle plays on offense and defense to show a complete team approach.

We became excited about the 2012 season ahead and set goals that we wanted to reach as a team. Each player understood what those goals were.

A special thanks to our hosts ASD Parma and the clubs of Colorno and Collechio for their hospitality and the CBA and Lucie Cubikova for all her work coordinating the trip details, bus and hotel arrangements and game schedule. It was well organized.

Prague Baseball Week June 26-July 1, 2012:

Our goal for the 2012 Prague Baseball Week was to take one last live look at the players in action that would be competing for a spot on the European Baseball Championship roster and to ultimately win the tournament. We won our first four matches of the tournament, with wins over Belgium (8-6), USSSA (5-2), Czech Republic U18 (17-1), Czech Republic U21 (4-3). The games were all competitive and in particular, we needed to come from behind to defeat Belgium and the Czech U21 teams after falling down early. Matej Hejma hit a big homerun late to help us come back versus Belgium and Martin Schneider pitched great in relief to get the save. Jakub Malik provided a sacrifice fly late and Schneider again pitched in relief in a 3-2 win over a tough U21 team. Michal Sobotka pitched brilliantly for the U21’s in five innings and solidified his chances of making the men’s senior team. In the finals, we lost to the American team AIST for the second straight year. This year’s score was 12-6.

Starting pitchers for the week were: Petr Minarik vs. Belgium, Jan Blazek vs. USSSA, Leos Kubat vs. Czech U18, Marek Cervenka vs. Czech U21 and Jakub Toufar vs. AIST. Top hitters for the tournament were Jan Drabek (8 hits, 8 RBIs), Martin Schneider (7 hits, 4 RBIs), Martin Drong (7 hits, 2 RBIs), Martin Vesely (6 hits, 6 runs), Matej Hejma (6 hits, 6 RBIs), Petr Baroch (5 hits, 3 RBIs) and Jakub Hajtmar (5 hits, 2 RBIs).

Coaches for the tournament: Andy Berglund, Greg McCarthy, Ales Navratil, Patrick Ahearne. Technical staff: Lucie Cubikova and Premysl Zak

2012 Prague Baseball Week Roster:

Petr Baroch - Kotlářka Praha Jan Blažek - Kotlářka Praha Jiří Bliek - UVV (NED) Boris Bokaj - Grosseto (ITA) Pavel Budský - Draci Brno Petr Čech - Regensburg (GER) Marek Červenka - Kotlářka Praha Jan Drábek - Eagles Praha Martin Drong - Arrows Ostrava Marian Gajdoš - Kotlářka Praha Jakub Hajtmar - Draci Brno Matěj Hejma - Eagles Praha Jan Homolka - Eagles Praha Radim Chroust - Draci Brno Michael Král - Kotlářka Praha Leoš Kubát - Hroši Brno Jakub Malík - Arrows Ostrava Petr Minařík - Draci Brno Daniel Mráz - Technika Brno Michal Ondráček - Draci Brno Martin Schneider - Draci Brno Martin Střítecký - Technika Brno Jakub Toufar - Technika Brno Martin Veselý - Draci Brno Jakub Voják - Skokani Olomouc Petr Zýma - Eagles Praha (injury)

Scouting Haarlem Baseball Week, July 15-17:

I watched two of the Holland senior national team games during the Haarlem Baseball Week to scout the Dutch team versus Chinese Taipei and Japan. It was a great atmosphere for baseball and was great to scout the team that we would be facing in the European Championships to prepare our team.

Blansko July 28-29 Training Camp:

We spent two days in Blansko with full training days each day to make our final selections for the 2012 European Championship team. The camp was very productive as we had great weather and good accommodation near the field. We had a meeting with the CBA and Petr Ditrich, Lucie Cubikova and Frantisek Pribyl about uniforms and the upcoming tournaments. On the field, we did a number of different things on defense, with the pitchers, with the hitters and baserunning and had some live hitting versus pitching to end the camp. Final roster selections were made and players were informed at the end of camp. Coaches at the camp were Andy Berglund, Greg McCarthy, Ales Navratil, and Patrick Ahearne. Players at the Blansko Camp were:

Petr Baroch - Kotlářka Praha Jan Blažek - Kotlářka Praha Pavel Budský - Draci Brno Jan Drábek - Eagles Praha Martin Drong - Arrows Ostrava Jakub Hajtmar - Draci Brno Matěj Hejma - Eagles Praha Basilio Hernandez-Kotlarka Praha Jan Homolka - Eagles Praha Radim Chroust - Draci Brno Leoš Kubát - Hroši Brno Jakub Malík - Arrows Ostrava Petr Minařík - Draci Brno Michal Ondráček - Draci Brno Jan Rehacek-Vaessen Pioneers Martin Schneider - Draci Brno Jakub Toufar - Technika Brno Martin Veselý - Draci Brno Petr Zýma - Eagles Praha Extra August Practices with Prague-Based Guys:

We conducted five extra workouts for the Prague based guys in late August around the playoffs and before we left for the Italian Baseball Week. On August 14 and 16, I did a defense and hitting workout with Petr Baroch, Jakub Sladek and Basilio Hernandez at Krc. Patrick Ahearne and myself were at the Aug. 22 workout where the Kotlarka guys came again to Krc for hitting and Marek Cervenka and Jan Blazek threw bullpens. The week before the Italian Baseball Week, we held two more workouts, one each at Krc and Kotlarka, with Marek Cervanka, Jan Blazek, Basilio Hernandez, Petr Baroch, Jakub Sladek, Jan Homolka, Matej Hejma and Marek Minarik. We elected to take Marek Minarik to the Euro Roster after watching him pitch live in Krc.

Italian Baseball Week:

We were fortunate enough to receive a last minute invitation to the Italian Baseball Week in Nettuno, with teams Italy, Spain and Chinese Taipei in attendance. We were able to take nearly our full squad of players, with some players having to stay back in Czech because of work commitments. Lucie Cubikova of the CBA was able to find flights for the entire team and help with organization and logistics along with Lukas Tomsa, which was a huge help in traveling to Nettuno. The local tournament organizers set us up in dormitory accommodation and provided meals and transportation before and after the games. We were able to have a practice on Saturday, Sept. 1 before our game that evening with Italy. We did a two hour workout with defense, hitting, bullpens and baserunning.

In our first game, we battled with host Italy in a night contest under the lights. The score was 2-2 heading into the 7th inning, before Italy scored four in the top of the seventh to win 6-2. Jan Blazek pitched six strong innings as the starter. On offense, Michal Ondracek had two hits, and Martin Schneider and Jakub Hajtmar had RBIs.

In our second game, we defeated a good Spain team 4-1. Marek Cervenka pitched a complete game, scattering 8 hits, striking out 3, and only walking one. On offense, Jan Drabek had two hits and one RBI, and Jakub Hajtmar and Basilio Hernandez had clutch RBI hits to secure the win.

We were rained out of our last contest with Chinese Taipei. Michal Sobotka was slated to be the starter. The guys hit in the cages for about an hour before we left on the bus back to Rome and eventually back to the Czech Republic.

The goals for this trip were to show we can compete with and defeat top-tier baseball countries in Europe and we did show that versus Italy and Spain. We left Nettuno with a great deal of confidence in our focus and goals for the European Championships.

Coaches for the tournament: Andy Berglund, Greg McCarthy, Ales Navratil, Patrick Ahearne. Technical staff: Lukas Tomsa

2012 Italian Baseball Week Roster:

Petr Baroch - Kotlářka Praha Jan Blažek - Kotlářka Praha Boris Bokaj - Grosseto (ITA) Pavel Budský - Draci Brno Petr Čech - Regensburg (GER) Marek Červenka - Kotlářka Praha Jan Drábek - Eagles Praha Martin Drong - Arrows Ostrava Jakub Hajtmar - Draci Brno Matěj Hejma - Eagles Praha Basilio Hernandez-Kotlarka Praha Leoš Kubát - Hroši Brno Jakub Malík - Arrows Ostrava Marek Minarik- Michal Ondráček - Draci Brno Jan Rehacek-Vaessen Pioneers Martin Schneider - Draci Brno Jakub Sladek-Kotlarka Praha Michal Sobotka-Draci Brno Martin Veselý - Draci Brno

Exhibition game versus Croatia:

In Krc, on Sept. 4, a select group of guys played in an exhibition game versus the Croatian national team. Two pitchers that didn’t go to Italy, Petr Minarik and Jan Homolka, pitched in the contest very effectively. Also playing from the Czech Republic Senior National team were Basilio Hernandez, Jakub Sladek, Petr Baroch, Martin Cervenka and Matej Hejma. Coaches on hand were Andy Berglund, Greg McCarthy and Patrick Ahearne. Lukas Tomsa was there to assist with the game and the uniforms.

European Championships:

Our goals for the European Championship were simple. Play top-tier baseball and medal. We came agonizingly close to that goal. We lost in a tiebreaker to Germany in game one, 5-4 in the 10th. Our baserunner, Martin Vesely, was thrown out at the plate after Jan Drabek singled up the middle, but a great play by the German defense kept us from tying the score. It was a heartbreaking loss, but we showed we were ready to compete with everyone at the tournament. Against Great Britain, we faced another strong left-handed pitcher who controlled our bats, and lost 6-1. We scored first on Jakub Malik’s triple to score Jakub Hajtmar, but after that Great Britain just played better. They out hit us, out pitched us and out defended us. So we found ourselves in a very difficult position heading into the Netherlands game down 0-2 in the tournament.

Game 3 versus the Dutch was a game I think people that follow Czech baseball will be talking about for a long time. We rose to the occasion in front of a great crowd in Rotterdam and defeated the World Champions 3-2 in another tiebreaker. Our starting pitcher, Michal Sobotka, pitched fearless baseball for 8 superb innings against a very loaded professional Dutch lineup and gave way to the bullpen that eventually closed it out in the 10th. Big hits in the game came from Jakub Malik, Jan Drabek, Petr Cech (3 hits) and Jakub Sladek. Martin Schneider’s bunt in the 10th was crucial to us scoring two in the tiebreaker and the defense was strong all game long. Fittingly, Pavel Budsky recorded the last out of the game on a ground ball to first. One cannot say enough about the team’s performance that day. They simply stepped up when they needed to most and gave us a chance to reach the medal rounds.

We would reach the medal rounds because of back-to-back wins over France (6-0) and Belgium (12-3). Boris Bokaj was dominant in a complete game, 10 strikeout performance, over the French. We had 13 hits in the contest, led by Pavel Budsky and Matej Hejma’s three each. Against Belgium, Jakub Toufar started and pitched five innings (6 strikeouts) before Petr Minarik pitched exceptional in relief the last four (1 hit, 5 strikeouts) to get the win. We found ourselves down 3-2 in the fifth, but the offense responded and we scored 10 unanswered runs on 14 hits in total.

The win clinched a medal round birth and a 1-1 record heading into the medal rounds.

We played our third tiebreaker in six games in Game 6 versus Spain. The game went back and forth all game long, and we went up 5-3 in the 8th, but couldn’t hold the lead, as Spain tied it 5-5 heading into the tiebreak. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score and Spain scored on a walk-off hit by pitch with two outs to win 6-5. Jan Blazek was strong as a starter and the offense had more hits (13) than Spain, but we couldn’t finish with a win.

We fell to eventual champion Italy in a hard fought battle 3-0 in Game 7. Marek Cervenka pitched four innings and Petr Minarik once again was great in relief for five, but we couldn’t muster any offense versus a strong left-handed Italian pitcher in Luca Panerati.

In our last game, we defeated Sweden 6-5 on a walk-off by Petr Cech in the 9th. It was another emotional back and forth game, where we fell behind late, but scored 2 in the 8th to tie it and one in the ninth to win it. Petr Cech, Jakub Malik and Matej Hejma led the hitting attack to back the pitching performances of Sobotka, Kubat, Homolka, and Marek Minarik.

The win secured a top-five finish, equaling the Czech Republic’s highest finish ever at the European Championships. We gained a lot of respect from the coaches and players we competed against all week long and in the Dutch and international baseball media for our performance.

We fell just short of our ultimate goal to medal, but made great progress in establishing ourselves as a top European baseball country.

A great thanks to all those who supported us back home in the Czech by watching the play-by-play and following via the CBA website and facebook sites. And a great thanks to the CBA and all those in charge of travel plans, logistics, hotel accommodation, and transportation to make the experience go well.

Coaches at tournament: Andy Berglund, Greg McCarthy, Ales Navratil, Patrick Ahearne & Rod Delmonico Technical staff: Lukas Tomsa, Premysl Zak, and doctor from Ostrava

2012 European Championships Roster:

Petr Baroch - Kotlářka Praha Jan Blažek - Kotlářka Praha Boris Bokaj - Grosseto (ITA) Pavel Budský - Draci Brno Petr Čech - Regensburg (GER) Marek Červenka - Kotlářka Praha Martin Cervenka-Cleveland Indians Jan Drábek - Eagles Praha Martin Drong - Arrows Ostrava Jakub Hajtmar - Draci Brno Matěj Hejma - Eagles Praha Basilio Hernandez-Kotlarka Praha Jan Homolka-Eagles Praha Leoš Kubát - Hroši Brno Jakub Malík - Arrows Ostrava Marek Minarik-Philadelphia Phillies Petr Minarik-Draci Brno Michal Ondráček - Draci Brno Jan Rehacek-Vaessen Pioneers Martin Schneider - Draci Brno Jakub Sladek-Kotlarka Praha Michal Sobotka-Draci Brno Jakub Toufar-Technika Brno Martin Veselý - Draci Brno

World Baseball Classic Qualifier:

The World Baseball Classic Qualifer was an experience the players and fans of Czech baseball may never forget. We arrived to Regensburg from Holland with great team chemistry from our experience in the Euros and a great chance to show that a small baseball country can compete on the biggest stage. Everything at the tournament was run first-class, from the field, to the television and media coverage, to the locker rooms, to the uniforms and equipment, to the trainers and doctors on hand, and to the flat out professionalism.

The European team was joined by Jan Novak and Radim Chroust and by two American players in Mike Cervenak and Alex Sogard who instantly added to the team.

We were able to train twice on the field before our game versus Germany.

It was great to see a good contingent of Czech fans make the trip over to Regensburg and support the team with flags and Czech colors.

On the field, Michal Sobotka started versus Germany and ran into trouble early in the first inning, surrendering three runs against the professionally dominated German lineup. He then settled in to retired 12 of the next 13 batters he faced before running into trouble again. He gave way to the bullpen (Petr Minarik, Jan Novak and Radim Chroust), but the German attack was too strong, and we fell 16-1 in a shortened game. Mike Cervenak and Martin Drong had hits for the Czech Republic.

In game two, we fell 12-5 to Great Britain and starting pitcher Jacob Esch and were eliminated from the tournament. Jan Blazek started and was relieved by newcomer Alex Sogard who pitched very effectively with his maximum pitch count limit. Marek Minarik, Jan Homolka and Martin Schneider finished in relief. Cervenak once again supplied the offense with three hits, Jakub Malik, Jakub Hajtmar Martin Schneider, Martin Drong and Jan Drabek all had hits.

Cervenak left the tournament in two games hitting .714, to lead all hitters in batting average.

The professional level of talent we saw, with a majority of the guys on the German, Canadian and Great Britain rosters having professional experience was a major factor. We competed, but it was clear that that professional level we saw is something we are striving for, but we are clearly not there yet. Coaches at tournament: Andy Berglund, Greg McCarthy, Ales Navratil, David Winkler, Tomas Svoboda & Rod Delmonico

Technical staff: Petr Ditrich, Lucie Cubikova, Lukas Tomsa, Premysl Zak, Frank Neville (Milwaukee Brewers), and Vladimir Chlup

2012 World Baseball Classic Qualifier Roster:

Petr Baroch - Kotlářka Praha Jan Blažek - Kotlářka Praha Boris Bokaj - Grosseto (ITA) Pavel Budský - Draci Brno Petr Čech - Regensburg (GER) Mike Cervenak- (AAA) Marek Červenka - Kotlářka Praha Martin Cervenka-Cleveland Indians Radim Chroust-Draci Brno Jan Drábek - Eagles Praha Martin Drong - Arrows Ostrava Jakub Hajtmar - Draci Brno Matěj Hejma - Eagles Praha Basilio Hernandez-Kotlarka Praha Jan Homolka-Eagles Praha Leoš Kubát - Hroši Brno Jakub Malík - Arrows Ostrava Marek Minarik-Philadelphia Phillies Petr Minarik-Draci Brno Jan Novak-Kotlarka Praha Michal Ondráček - Draci Brno Jan Rehacek-Vaessen Pioneers Martin Schneider - Draci Brno Jakub Sladek-Kotlarka Praha Michal Sobotka-Draci Brno Alex Sogard-Houston Astros (AA) Jakub Toufar-Technika Brno Martin Veselý - Draci Brno

Conclusion:

A program and momentum has been created that has shown that Czech baseball has the capabilities of competing at the highest level in Europe. You can see that happening at every category, from the Juveniles, Cadets, Juniors and Under 21s up to the Seniors. To keep that consistency going, it takes a lot of hard work from the coaches, players and administrators, and my hats off to those giving the extra effort. That extra effort will push Czech baseball even further into the future.

At the senior level, we need to continue to make the extra effort and develop these elements: Top Level Coaching: Continue to push the national team players with coaches that care truly about developing the game and the players and keeping the coaching staffs together that have built success and chemistry---Not breaking them apart or having them on national team staffs for political reasons. If we are serious about developing all coaches in the country, then set up a truly universal Coaching Committee with all “hungry to learn” coaches working together on a regular basis, roving instructors, pushing the Czech Academies, sending more coaches to Tirrenia, Italy for the MLB camp, and building more consistency within national team levels.

Top Level Competition: To compete with the best, you have to find ways to play with the best more regularly. Czech teams and the senior team cannot afford to take a year off of playing some type of top- tier tournament if it wants to keep building momentum and staying at the same level as the top teams in Europe. If and when the Senior team gets invited to Holland baseball tournaments or the Italian Baseball Week, take those opportunities. The players need the motivation.

Budget: There will always be issues with the budget, that’s understood with the loss of Olympic funding. Administrators were able to do a lot of quality things this year with a small budget. And next year will be the same. To tackle this yearly problem, efforts need to be considered into a full-time fund-raising employee to raise money, sponsorships and marketing for Czech Baseball. For example, the national team beat the World Champions of baseball and competed in the World Baseball Classic this year. Build off that momentum.

Off-season programs: To be able to be consistent with the other top European teams, professional off- season programs need to be professionally in place to make the players faster and stronger. MLB strength coaches are coming in, and workout programs are available. Pitchers, in particular, need to be developed so more players are able to throw 90+ mph by the time they reach the senior national level. That will grow the level of the leagues here in terms of hitting and pitching so we can compete regularly with the top-tier countries. It’s a realistic and very achievable goal.

Communication: It needs to be 100 percent. We can then discuss issues openly. Ultimately what the plan is to develop Czech coaches, national players, the Czech leagues, marketing, budget, fan interest and overall future is known. So we can work together professionally.

I thank you again for the opportunity to coach the Czech Republic. It was an incredible year.

Andy Berglund