Australian Baseball League

Sydney's only ABL team will be working under new manager Jason "Pops" Pospishil, a current coach with the Minnesota Twins Major League Franchise. Penrith local Pospishil will be preparing the Blue Sox for a three-game exhibition series against Australia from the 26th-28th of October. The Australia Series will serve as a warm-up for the forty-nine game Australian Baseball League schedule, with the three-game home opener against the Brisbane Bandits from November 9-11th.

Pospishil commented on how crucial the September sessions are:

"Spring training is where we will build the foundation for this year's season, so it is a really important aspect for the club's success. We've got players who have been playing in the States, Holland, Belgium, China and all around Australia, so it's really critical to get the boys together here."

A famous baseball tradition, spring training is a comprehensive development and conditioning project, which has a dual focus of individual player and team progress.

"The entire roster will be working hard in the gym and on the field preparing themselves physically and mentally for the upcoming Australia Series and ABL season."

The preseason workout will involve physical screening and testing, to design and integrate a strength and conditioning program for position and game specific skills. The next element is baseball specific drills and practice, with a mix of offensive and defensive sessions, to give players as many repetitions on both sides of the ball.

Thirdly, spring training allows the coaching staff to experiment with a variety of strategies, positional switches, team dynamics and trialing different tactics and strategic plays.

The Sydney Blue Sox begin their 2012-13 ABL campaign in Canberra for a three-game series on the 2nd and 3rd of November. The home season opener will take place at Blue Sox Stadium on November 6-9thagainst the Brisbane Bandits. The regular season concludes with a home series against Brisbane from January 24-27th 2013.