Power at the plate isn’t lost in translation
Welland Jackfish infielder Brendon Dadson compiles 1.29 slugging percentage in top baseball league in Germany
“It just kind of looked like the doors had closed. For a little bit, I felt l thought about just taking the season off, but the thought of not playing got me to go reach out to some teams.” BRENDON DADSON
An English-to- Germany translation of “sophomore jinx” was not needed when the Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) 2019 rookie of the year got back on the field this summer with the Cologne Cardinals. Hardly.
Brendon Dadson, a Welland Jackfish first baseman on this side of the pond, enjoyed the most productive season of his baseball career, putting up eye-popping numbers in Germany’s elite league.
He hit five home runs, drove in 20 runs while compiling a .581 batting average, .667 on-base percentage — and a 1.29 slugging percentage — in 43 plate appearances in 10 of the team’s 14-regular-season games.
While the 16-team league isn’t expected to release final stats until later this month, Dadson believes he’s in the running to top the loop in many of those categories.
“I think those were the best numbers in the league. There were guys who hit higher than me, but I don’t have enough at-bats to be considered eligible,” he said from Whitby, where he is self-isolating for 14 days since arriving back in Canada on Sunday.
Dadson is glad he decided to go to Germany rather than take a year off after the IBL cancelled the season due to COVID-19.
“Personally, on the baseball field I had my best season ever. I was really looking to add to my power numbers,” he said. “That was a lot of hard work having basically a summer offseason, which was kind of strange.”
Achance to immerse himself in the German culture was a bonus for Dadson, who also got to spend seven months in Australia last winter thanks to baseball.
“I never really had Germany as a country that I really wanted to visit. Now that I’ve been there, it’s amazing,” he said. “Their culture and everything is just perfect there.”
And accepting of an infielder imported from Canada whose grasp of German isn’t as, ah, sure-handed as his defensive play with a glove at first base.
“Ah, I got the basics. German is a tough language,” he answered with a laugh when asked about his fluency. “Even pronouncing the bit of language that I do know, it was tough.
“A lot of times I would try a little bit of German, they would just switch to English.”
Dadson likened pitching in the German’s top league as a notch below the IBL. German-born pitchers, who are required to start the opening games of seven-inning doubleheaders, throw in the low- to mid-80s while those on the national team can top out in the low 90s.
Imports also throw fastballs in the low to mid-90s.
“When they bring in the import players, they know how to pitch.
They’re in their late 20s and they’ve played baseball for quite a while,” he said. “They might not have the same velocity, but they’re just good pitchers.”
Ballparks are similar in size to those in the IBL, including Welland Stadium. Foul lines are about 320 feet, rather than 330, “but they were pretty similar.”
“All my home runs would have gone out anywhere but maybe in Berlin. They had a short left field, which is the opposite field for me,” Dadson said.
Spectators were allowed, but the stands weren’t overflowing.
“They tried their best to get people there,” he said. “They didn’t really market and sell tickets this year because of COVID, but there were still people who showed up.”
Five IBL teams, including the Jackfish, had hoped to squeeze in a shortened season after it became clear a 36-game schedule followed by three rounds of playoffs would not be possible.
The holdouts ultimately cancelled the 2020 season July 9, marking the first time in its 101-year history that the oldest independent baseball league in Canada didn’t take field.
Dadson briefly thought about taking the year off as well.
“It just kind of looked like the doors had closed. For a little bit, I felt I thought about just taking the season off, but the thought of not playing got me to go reach out to some teams,” he said.
“I just threw out a bunch of emails and just saw what came back and Cologne seemed like an all-right fit.”
The timing couldn’t have been better for Dadson, as far as COVID-19 restrictions were concerned. When he got to Germany, it was “pretty much the same as here (Ontario), like a Stage 3-type deal. No clubs or concerts, things like that.
“But restaurants were open. You had to wear masks inside,” he added. “Basically, the same thing.”
On Monday, the day after he arrived back in Canada, Germany was put back into Stage 1, locking down again following a rise in infections.
Since the Cardinals didn’t make the playoffs, Dadson had about a month before he was scheduled to return to Canada. In between helping coach other teams in the Cologne organization, he had about a week to see other countries so he drove through parts of Belgium, France, Luxembourg as well the Netherlands.
“I think I spent most of my money at the German bakeries, to be honest,” he said with a chuckle. “German strudel was awesome, but I was a sucker for a doughnut they call a Berliner, which is basically like a jelly doughnut.”
German beer likewise was “amazing” after building up a thirst on the baseball diamond.
“I mean, paying something like 18 euros for 24 beer so it’s like $30 for a case of beer. It was tough to say no to.”
Thanks to a training regimen and regular visits to the gym, he managed to keep his weight down
“As much as I ate a ton of bread there, I made sure to get into the gym to not blow up too bad.”
Last winter, he played a full season of 32 games in Perth, Australia.
“The natural wonders of Australia are pretty unreal,” Dadson said. “The sunsets there are like nowhere else, it’s actually like someone lights the sky on fire.”
Before leaving for Germany, the 23-year-old from Bowmanville, east of Oshawa, worked with younger players at a summer camp hosted by the Jackfish. He also helped out coaching youth with the Cardinals organization.
“I try to tell kids that I was just a kid who played on the local rep team and I went to a local Canadian college and I just kept my head down and worked and worked and worked,” Dadson said. “I was that squeaky wheel contacting teams and now I’ve been able to travel the world and play baseball.
“I’m excited to see what other opportunities are out there.”