German pitcher Sven Schueller ahead of Global Baseball Games: "European kids, chase your dream"

Sven Schueller was born in 1996 in Wuppertal and has been committed to baseball since he entered the Regensburg Academy as a 15-year-old. He is one of three pitchers representing Germany on Team Europe's roster for the Global Baseball Games, the CARNEXT SAMURAI JAPAN SERIES, on Wednesday, 6 and Thursday, 7 March. The others are Marcus Solbach and Dalton Von Schamann. Germany had two players on the 2015 roster, pitchers Luke Sommer and Jan Niclas Stoecklin.

Schueller signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball in 2013.

"I was playing with the Regensburg first team and also appeared in the Prague Baseball Week with the German National Team. That year I signed for the Dodgers."

The offer didn't come as a surprise.

"I was attending the Regensburg Baseball Academy. The guy who eventually would sign me for the Dodgers, at the time was working with the Seattle Mariners and signed another kid. On my first year with the Academy, I was aware of the possibility."

Schueller didn't feel ajusting to professional baseball was hard.

"The Academy was very professional; we worked out four times in the winter and two times in the summer. We were trying to implement what we would experience in pro ball. For me, it was better playing professional. I didn't go to school anymore."

Germany has a premium players development programme.

"Regensburg Academy started in the early 2000s. It was the very first academy in Germany. At first, it was just Martin Brunner and a few players, but then it grew. When I entered the academy, they also opened the Paderborn Academy. Both academies have a relationship with MLB. They share the same philosophy. They want a good group of talented guys who want to work hard. This creates a type of environment where players push each other. Both academies have good facilities and staffs with coaches specializing in conditioning, pitching, hitting…whatever you could think of. The selection process looks for the most talented and the kids who fit the best. This process has helped move big steps forward in the last 20 years."

Schueller talked with the WBSC from Tenerife, Canary Islands, where German National Team manager Jendrick Speer, a former star shortstop, is holding a pre-season camp. Germany is ambitious at the European level.

"I had a chance to look at the younger kids. We have a really talented pool of players. With them coming up, we are about to see with German baseball what happened with Czechia lately. I think we will be able to compete for a medal regularly from now on."

From 2014 to 2019, Schueller appeared in 144 Minor League Baseball (MiLB) games, including one at Triple-A. He has also played two seasons, pitching in 24 games in the Australian Baseball League (ABL). He is currently on the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe roster in the German Bundesliga.

"There's a big difference between professional baseball and the Bundesliga. When you play professionally, you face the most talented players in the world. There are restrictions on foreigners in the ABL, but players under contract with affiliated organizations can still be in the lineup. This creates a far better league. They also play more games. In the ABL, they play four games a week for 10 weeks, 40 games in total. In Germany, we just moved up to a 30-game regular season. If we played more games, we would close the gap more. Australia is very attractive to young players. The ABL allows one to compete in the winter and play all year. Playing professionally is the goal of every young player."

Would you advise a European prospect to go for a baseball career?

"I would recommend chasing a dream. You don't have to leave school or job opportunities behind. If you have the opportunity to attend college in the US, you get your education. After four years, if you haven't been drafted, maybe professional baseball is not quite in reach. You can still take a couple of years to experience independent ball. When you return to Europe, you will be in your mid-twenties and with a Bachelor's Degree. You can still seek job opportunities. If you look at the average European, they still finish their Bachelor's in the mid-twenties. So, you'll be ready for the job market at the same age."

Schueller is a right-handed pitcher with intriguing characteristics.

"I rely on the movement of my pitches. I think I have rather unique mechanics and a rather unique way of pitching that can throw some hitters off. A combination of making the ball move, being a little funky on the mound and velocity I can still produce."

Pitching coach Alessandro Maestri said he doesn't plan to use pitchers for more than one or two innings. It looks like your bread and butter.

"I agree. In pro baseball, whenever I would go one or two innings I was more successful then going the distance."

What do you expect from facing Samurai Japan?

"I expect it to be a very good competition. I expect them to fight. I expect every single pitch to be as competitive as it can be. I haven't been privileged enough to play against Japanese teams, but I understand it's not easy to get them out. I watched them in the World Baseball Classic, and they always find a way to put the bat on the ball; they don't like to strike out. It will be tough, and we will have to stay on every pitch to have a chance to beat them."

You haven't played in Japan, so you are not aware of the environment. It can become noisy out there, but fans never cheer against a team.

"When you get to the mound, all you see is your catcher and the hitter. You don't hear the fans. Maybe you acknowledge the umpire, but you are pretty locked in. The fact that Japanese fans cheer on both sides could benefit us. I don't expect European fans to travel to Japan, but we will still have someone on our side and use it for more energy."

On a final note, Schueller said he expects European baseball to benefit from the Global Baseball Games.

"I saw what happened to Czech baseball. They faced Japan in the World Baseball Classic, and many Japanese fans realized there was baseball in Czechia. We played in the European Championship in Czechia last year. The ballparks had to be renewed to welcome more fans. Having multiple nations represented on Team Europe could be a perfect boost for European baseball."

Photo by Thomas Schoenenbom.