NZ baseball revolution
Mark down November 16, 2018 as the day when baseball changed forever in New Zealand.
After years of hoping, lobbying, then planning, the country finally gets a professional baseball team with the Auckland Tuatara playing their first game against Perth Heat.
It’s not really starting with a bang as the game won’t actually start until 12.05am NZ time on Saturday, so it could be argued baseball’s biggest day is November 17.
Unlike the Warriors, Breakers and even the Football Kings (remember them?) who all started with home fixtures, the Tuatara will begin life in Australia, with a five-hour time difference to New Zealand.
They are at home the following weekend though, for a four-game series against the defending champions, the Brisbane Bandits and there should be a big crowd at their popup stadium at McLeod Park in west Auckland, but it will take time for people to know the players.
Most people with a good sporting knowledge would be able to recognise Clayton Kershaw, Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge, but names like Kyle Glogoski, Gui-Yuan Xu and Daniel Lamb-Hunt will mean little to most.
In time, that will change, crowd favourites will emerge and it’s possible the first superstar from the club could be Eric Jenkins.
The outfielder was drafted in the second round by the Texas Rangers in 2015 and worked with Tuatara manager Steve Mintz at the Minor League team Down East Wood Ducks this season.
In the Tuatara’s three exhibition games against Brisbane last weekend, he showed he can hit for power and is lightning quick in the field and around the bases.
‘‘He’s fast. When gets on first base he causes havoc until he’s out,’’ Mintz said of Jenkins. ‘‘He had a great start to the year in Hickory [a lower level Minor League team affiliated to the Rangers], then came up to us and was hitting real well.’’:
Jenkins isn’t yet the finished product, he wouldn’t be at the Tuatara if he was, and while at the Wood Ducks, he did struggle, hitting .223, compared to .291 at Hickory.
Jenkins, 21, from the small country town of Chadbourne, in North Carolina, admitted to knowing little about New Zealand and when in Auckland last week struggled to name the country’s capital. However he is liking it Down Under.
‘‘I don’t know much about New Zealand, but I know you’ve got good food over here,’’ he said.
‘‘Some lamb chops, I’d never tried that before and it was pretty good.
‘‘When I first got here Mintzy told me that they drive on the wrong side of the road.
‘‘In the States we drive on the right side, but here y’all on the left side. It’s pretty weird, but it’s cool because it’s different.’’
Jenkins feels a season in the ABL will help him sort out some issues with his game, in time for Spring Training at the Rangers next year.
‘‘It’s the best thing for me and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to get to the show,’’ Jenkins said.
‘‘So I’ve come down here to work on things and then take them back to the States and get ready for the season.
‘‘I’m trying to cut down on strikeouts and get on base more for my team. Then steal bases and score runs. That’s my main focus.’’
One of Jenkins’ greatest strengths is stealing bases. Over three seasons in the minors he has done this 124 times.
‘‘I’ve always stole bases, I just like running,’’ he said.
‘‘So I run bases for my team-mates and steal runs. That’s the biggest key.’’
Jenkins revealed there are a few clues he looks for when attempting to steal second base and once he sees any of these signs from the pitcher, off he goes.
‘‘I look at his back leg and focus on any small movement,’’ he said.
‘‘Whether he lifts up his glove, whether he pitches with his foot up, to know that’s when he’s going to try to pick me off. It’s those small things.