Josh Warner - 2015-16 Brisbane Bandits

Gold Coast born Warner returned to the Brisbane Bandits following a two season break, originally caused through a shoulder injury in 2013. Warner had played in the first three seasons of the new ABL with the Bandits before the injury derailed his ABL participation and career in the Philadelphia Phillies organisation. The 2015-16 ABL season became Warner's fourth ABL season.

2015-16 Brisbane Bandits Josh Warner card front - ©2016 Adam East

2015-16 Brisbane Bandits Josh Warner alternate card front - ©2016 Adam East

David Kandilas - 2015-16 Sydney Blue Sox

Kandilas returned to the Sydney Blue Sox for his fifth ABL season in 2015-16, but only managed seven games late in the season due to knee surgery. In 2015 Kandilas played with Niigata Albirex in Japan's independent Baseball Challenge League.

2015-16 Sydney Blue Sox David Kandilas card front - ©2016 Adam East

Aaron Thompson (US) - 2015-16 Canberra Cavalry

The signing of former American MLB player Aaron Thompson by the Canberra Cavalry for the 2015-16 ABL season caused some issues - they already had an Aussie born pitcher Aaron Thompson on their roster, so it became common to refer to them as either the American or Australian Aaron Thompson. The American Thompson had spent 3 years in the majors, including most recently in 2015 with the Minnesota Twins before becoming a free agent at the end of the 2015 season.

2015-16 Canberra Cavalry Aaron Thompson (US) card front - ©2016 Adam East

2015-16 Canberra Cavalry Aaron Thompson (US) alternate card front - ©2016 Adam East

Warwick Saupold - 2015-16 Perth Heat

Congratulations to Warwick Saupold, who yesterday (Australian time) became Australia's 32nd Major League Baseball player after making his MLB with the Detroit Tigers. It's kind of ironic that Saupold has made his MLB debut after his worst W-L season in the ABL (going 1-5 after recording 10-8 across the previous five ABL seasons.)  The 2015-16 ABL season was Saupold's sixth ABL season with the Perth Heat.

2015-16 Perth Heat Warwick Saupold card front - ©2016 Adam East

His MLB debut breaks the five year Aussie drought since Liam Hendriks, another Perth pitcher, made his MLB debut with the Twins in 2011.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any action shots of Saupold during last season, but I did get the ubiquitous levitating ball shot :)

2015-16 Perth Heat Warwick Saupold card front - ©2016 Adam East

Tyler (TJ) Bennett - 2015-16 Brisbane Bandits

Tyler (AKA TJ) Bennett was an American import who played with the Brisbane Bandits during the 2015-16 ABL season. Bennett had previously spent two seasons playing independent ball, in 2015 spending most of his time with the Schaumburg Boomers in the Frontier League, as well as playing a  single game with the Joplin Blasters in the American Association.

Whilst I liked the photo of Bennett joking around as his primary card image, I couldn't resist including the photo of him wincing as an alternate card image. From memory I think he was baserunning and ended up with some nasty cuts to his hand from the second baseman's cleats. I'm pretty sure he was out of the game after those injuries.(It could also have been the other way around - him fielding and getting spiked by a baserunner, but I'm fairly sure he was the runner.) The image is of the Bandits' staff assessing and cleaning up his wounds.

2015-16 Brisbane Bandits TJ Bennett card front - ©2016 Adam East

2015-16 Brisbane Bandits TJ Bennett alternate card front - ©2016 Adam East

Nick Talbot - 2015-16 Adelaide Bite

Talbot is a local Adelaide player who finally got a foothold with the Adelaide Bite during the 2015-16 ABL season.The 2015-16 season was actually Talbot's fourth season in the ABL, however he had only played in 6 games across the previous 5 years before becoming a regular starter for the Bite in 2015-16, pitching in 14 games.

It turns out that it wasn't only Travis Demeritte who wore his baseball glove on his head at the Bite ... but Demeritte wasn't doing it whilst holding a toothpick ...

2015-16 Adelaide Bite Nick Talbot card front - ©2016 Adam East

James Yates - 2015-16 Sydney Blue Sox

Yates is a local Sydneysider who made his ABL debut with the Sydney Blue Sox during the 2015-16 ABL season. Yates plays club level ball with Penrith in the NSW State Baseball League.

2015-16 Sydney Blue Sox James Yates card front - ©2016 Adam East

James Darcy - 2015-16 Canberra Cavalry

Darcy is a Melbourne local who played with the Aces in 2014-15 but made his way onto the Canberra Cavalry roster for the 2015-16 ABL season. On last season's blog post for him I noted how the ABL website had a wrong birth year for him - well, it looks like they have the wrong surname for him as well. On the ABL site he's listed as surname D'Arcy, however his social media uses the Darcy spelling. I'm presuming he's correct and the ABL is wrong about how to spell his surname.  The ABL seem to have a real identity crisis with him ... and I can't seem to get photos of him except when he's in a dugout.

2015-16 Canberra Cavalry James Darcy card front - ©2016 Adam East

Nick Ciuffo - 2015-16 Brisbane Bandits

Ciuffo is an American import from the Tampa Bay Rays organisation who played with the Brisbane Bandits during the 2015-16 ABL season.  In 2015 Ciuffo played with the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the Rays Single A affiliate in the Midwest League.

2015-16 Brisbane Bandits Nick Ciuffo card front - ©2016 Adam East

Wilson Lee - 2015-16 Adelaide Bite

Lee returned for his sixth season with the Adelaide bite during the 2015-16 ABL season. In 2015 Lee played in the German Bundesliga for the Bonn Capitals, and has returned to them for 2016.

2015-16 Adelaide Bite Wilson Lee card front - ©2016 Adam East