Australian Custom Baseball Cards: April 2016

Friday, April 29, 2016

Jan-Niclas Stöcklin - 2015-16 Sydney Blue Sox

Stöcklin is a German import who played with the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2015-16 ABL season. He previously spent a number of years in the German Bundesliga, in 2015 playing with the Mainz Athletics, to which he's also returned in 2016.

The ABL website seemed to have a few issues with the Anglicization of his name. I've seen it as both Jan Stoecklin and Jan-Niclas Stoecklin, but I've gone with the German spelling of Jan-Niclas Stöcklin. (Thanks ALT characters!)

Again - not a great photo, but unfortunately the best I could do from a very small selection of images that I managed to capture of him at games. He's making his way through the crowd during the break between games in a double header.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Alex Howe - 2015-16 Sydney Blue Sox

Howe returned to the Sydney Blue Sox for his second ABL season during the 2015-16 season, in the process becoming a Blue Sox regular, playing in almost every Sydney game throughout the season.

I know it's not an action photo and he's partly obscured, but I like the emotion in this photo of Howe and decided on this shot over some "on the field" shots.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Matt Dixon - 2015-16 Perth Heat

Dixon returned for his fourth ABL season with the Heat during 2015-16. I've always found Dixon a difficult player to photograph, mainly because of his build and facial structure. I find that his photos always come across as very "cherubic" looking, which is fine for a statue, but not for a baseballer. This photo broke that look, so I decided to use it for his card design this year.

The alternate card photo I chose purely to record the fact that Dixon, probably the shortest player on the Heat roster also happened to be the player who was doing the most lifting on the way to the dugout.

Friday, April 22, 2016

David Harris - 2015-16 Canberra Cavalry

Harris is an American import from the Toronto Blue Jays organisation who played with the Canberra Cavalry during the 2015-16 ABL season. Harris has been with the Blue jays since 2013, splitting 2015 between the Single A Lansing Lugnuts and the advanced A Dunedin Blue Jays. In 2016 he's resumed playing with Dunedin.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Jason Jarvis - 2015-16 Brisbane Bandits

Jarvis is an American import who played with the Brisbane Bandits during the 2015-16 ABL season. Jarvis had previously spent three years in the San Francisco Giants farm system between 2008 and 2010 before being releasedin 2011 and playing independent ball, mainly with American Association teams since then. This last season was actually Jarvis' second season with the Bandits, where he moved from relief into the starting line up.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Angus Roeger - 2015-16 Adelaide Bite

The 2015-16 ABL season was Roger's fourth season with the Adelaide Bite and it turned out to probably be his breakout season. Having previously been limited in game time during the previous two seasons, 2015-16 was Roegers' best, both in terms of game played (46) and in batting average (.285).

Friday, April 15, 2016

Trent D'Antonio - 2015-16 Sydney Blue Sox

Despite becoming one of the more "vintage" players on the team, D'Antonio's sixth ABL season with the Sydney Blue Sox during 2015-16 saw him have his best ever year statistically proving that there's still life in the old dog yet.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Bryan Pounds - 2015-16 Canberra Cavalry

Pounds is an American import who played with the Canberra Cavalry during the 2015-16 ABL season. Pounds had spent five years in the Detroit Lions organisation between 2008 and 2012, before moving to independent baseball. In 2015 he played with the York Revolution in the Atlantic League.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Kyle Redinger - 2015-16 Brisbane Bandits

Redinger is an American import who played a single game with the Brisbane Bandits during the 2015-16 ABL season. Redinger had preciously spent three years (2010-2012) playing Rookie level ball with the Houston Astros before a 2 year retirement before returning to the game in 2014. In 2015 he played games in low level independent leagues with both the Oregon City Mud Turtles in the, Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the InterCounty Baseball League.

He was playing local club level ball with the Pine Hills Lightning in the Queensland State League in late 2015 before being called up to the Bandits. I'm unsure as to why he only played one game with them as his single game produced 4 innings of scoreless relief. Regardless, I was able to grab shots of him playing in his ABL debut.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Loek van Mil - 2015-16 Adelaide Bite

Dutch born van Mil played as an import from the Minnesota Twins organisation with the Adelaide Bite during the 2015-16 ABL season. van Mil had the distinction of nine years exeprience in the US minor leagues as well as a year in the Japanese NPB. In 2015 van Mil played a handful of games with the Rochester Red Wings, the Minnesota Twins Triple A affiliate.

At 7'1" tall, he is reportedly the tallest player to have played in the US Minor leagues. Unfortunately, I didn't have any photos that gave a good height context for him.