Baseball New Zealand are thrilled to announce the New Zealand U-15 Team Roster for the 2023 WBSC Oceania Qualifier series in Guam this November.

The NZ U-15 Baseball team will head to Guam to compete in the WBSC Oceania Qualifier series with the aim of qualifying for the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-15 World Cup in 2024.

The NZ U-15 coaching unit led by head coach Brian Welts has been working with NZ’s top U-15 baseballers over the past eight months, focusing on skill and player development with the 35-man NZ U-15 Squad of players, from across NZ, but the time had to come to narrow down to an 18-man travelling roster plus 5 non-traveling reserve players, leading into the WBSC Oceania Qualifying tournament.

Welts and assistance coaches, Hendrix Warren (Levin Hustle), Clayton Willocks (Wellington Pirates), Paul Wansbone (Howick Hawks) and pitching support coach Todd Hatcher (Howick Hawks) have been working diligently with the wider NZ U-15 Squad and are pleased with the improvement and development that has been taking place throughout the training sessions and camps. 

“The Oceania Qualifier series is being held in Guam, which is a long way for our team to travel but we are ready for the journey,” says Welts.  Over the next few weeks, the team will be working on honing their skills and continuing their development in preparation to step onto the diamond in Guam and compete in the Oceania Qualifier with a focus on coming out on top.

“Whitling down from a squad to a team presented some difficult decisions with such a great group of talented, hard-working players.  We have selected a team that reflects the skill set, ability, positional play and coachability to compete in Guam.  We are excited to bring this team together and see what we can achieve in Guam come November.” says Welts.

Baseball NZ’s National Performance & Pathways Manager, Connar O’Gorman is, “pleased to see our NZ age group and pathways programmes in action and building our baseballers of the future.  Key to this is also continued development with our wider squad players and wider player groups across NZ, as we continue to work hard to grow the game here in NZ.”

With their future sights set on the WBSC U-15 World Cup in 2024, the team is not letting their focus shift from the first job on the list, being the Oceania Qualifier tournament.  The NZ U-15 team will depart New Zealand on 24^th November 2023 for Guam, with their who baseball whanau right behind them and cheering them on from back home.

Article added: Wednesday 18 October 2023