Belgium
Belgium is just one of four teams to have the Baseball European Championship in tournament history, as they finished in first place in 1967. Additionally, they have captured two silver medals and six bronze medals.
However, the Red Devils haven’t won a medal since bronze in 1995.
In 2021 they won just one of the six games they played, but it mattered as they reached the quarterfinals and finished in eighth place in the final standings.
Belgium is managed by Paco Garcia. Veteran players from previous editions like Benjamin Dille – who is on the coaching staff – Kenny van den Branden or Thomas De Wolf are no longer on the team.
The pitching staff still features Kevin and Cedric Desmedt. Drew Janssen, Steven De Lannoy, Dennis De Quint and Robin Roevens are on the team as well.
Germany
Germany is looking to rebound from a disappointing ninth place at the 2021 Baseball European Championship, where a first-game loss to Croatia defined the outcome of the tournament.
New manager Jendrick Speer has taking over at the beginning of the season.
Germany last won a medal in 2010 with bronze.
Long time veterans like Simon Guehring and Enorbel Marquez-Ramirez are no longer with the team. The pitching staff features former minor leaguers Markus Solbach, Sven Schueller and Niklas Rimmel as well as Dalton Duke von Schamann.
Young Yannic Walther of the Milwaukee Brewers will be the only current MLB affiliated player on the team. Samuel Steigert, who played for the hosting Eagles Prague during the 2023 season, also made the roster.
Israel
After qualifying for the 2017 World Baseball Classic and the A-Pool of the Baseball European Championship for the first time in 2019, Israel celebrated tremendous success on the international level.
They qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where they ended up in fifth place in the final standings.
At the last Baseball European Championship in 2021 Israel won the silver medal, their first in tournament history.
Nathan Fish is going to manage the team during the 2023 event. While their best batter of the 2021 edition, Mitch Glasser, is missing Assaf Lowengart, Ty Kelly and Benjamin Wanger are returning.
Additionally former Major Leaguer Ryan Lavarnway is on the roster as well. Obviously Shlomo Lipetz is leading the pitching staff, which is missing Joey Wagman.
Switzerland
Switzerland is making its debut on the A-Pool stage. They won the Qualifier last year in Utena, Lithuania to book their first Baseball European Championship ticket.
The team is managed by Christopher Byrnes. Joshua Crouse and Ryan Bourne, who batted over .400 during the qualifier are back on the team, as well as Rafael Eigenmann to lead the offense.
The pitching staff can rely on Jonah Schaller, who issued just one run on four hits in eleven innings during the qualifier. He is one of nine players born after 2000 on the roster.
All games of the Baseball European Championship 2023 can be followed through live play by play on www.wbsceurope.org. All games will by streamed by Staylive through www.baseballeurope.tv.
All the teams rosters (with a maximum of 3 players are allowed to be replaced on the Final Team Roster at the technical meeting before the tournament) are available here.
Cover photo by Czech Baseball
