One of the players to watch when baseball returns is Australian teenager, Jake Burns, a left-handed hitting catcher, who signed last summer with Major League Baseball's St Louis Cardinals. He received a US$400,000 signing bonus to join the MLB club.
"There were a lot of things I had to weigh up while choosing which organisation I wanted to begin my professional career with but at the end of the day St. Louis gave me opportunities that no other organisations did," commented Jake Burns.
Burns represented Australia in the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2018. Australia finished ninth and Burns went 4 for 15, .267 batting average, with 2 home runs. During the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2019, he was the backup for starting catcher Chris Burke. Burns started at catcher against China (Australia won 13-2, he went 0 for 4), against the US (Australia lost 2-1, he went 1 for 4). Burns played DH against Japan (Aussies won 4-1, he went 1 for 3) and in the third-place game against Korea, that Australia lost 6-5.
"Jake's done a lot of great things already in a young baseball career… it's incredible to think he is still only 16," commented General Manager Glenn Williams. "His family are some of the most committed baseball people," Williams added.
Two more players of the U-18 Australian National Team 2019 signed contracts with MLB organizations. Chris Burke will play in the Philadelphia Phillies Farm System, while right handed pitcher Brendan Bidois, who earned two wins in the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2019, agreed to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
