WGBC's Steve Fish - Team Australia Manager

Author: Baseball Australia Media/Thursday, 25 January 2018/Categories: News, Events, Southern Thunder

A winner of multiple ABL Championships and a leader of Australian underage teams, Steve Fish has been named as Team Australia manager for their upcoming tour of Japan.

Fish lead the Australian U18 team to a 5th place finish at the 2017 U18 World Cup in Canada, and more recently managed the Australian U15 team, who last week qualified for the 2018 U15 World Cup.

Speaking to baseball.com.au about his appointment, Fish highlighted the importance of the upcoming games against Japan.

“We need to show that we can compete with anyone in the world and there is no better place to do that than Japan,” Fish said.

“Anybody can beat anyone on any given day, and when you know your players, and when they have the ability to play consistently with each other, comfort levels make winning possible.”

Baseball Australia CEO Cam Vale believes Fish is a valuable asset to the Team Australia program.

“Steve has had a key role in the development of our underage high performance teams for a number of years,” Vale said.

“He has extensive experience both in Australia and overseas, and will lead a determined Australian team with a high quality network of support staff against Japan.”

The support team around Fish is an impressive and diverse collection of some of Australia’s best coaches and high performance staff all of whom have a rich pedigree at the elite end of the game, along with experience in Japan.

Fish’s staff boasts three former MLB stars including MLB All-Star and reigning two time ABL Championship winning coach David Nilsson alongside two-time World Series winner and long time Australian assistant coach, Graeme Lloyd.

Micheal Nakamura will also join Fish’s staff, with the former MLB and NPB player bringing significant experience from a long and successful playing career in Japan.

Two of Australia’s best high performance coaches will also make the trip, with Perth Heat manager Andy Kyle and Baseball NSW High Performance Manager Jason Pospishil rounding out the staff.

Team Australia’s playing roster for the upcoming series against Japan will be announced following the Australian Baseball League season.

Team Australia will play the Japanese national team at the Nagoya Dome in Nagoya on 3 March, and at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka on 4 March 2018.

2018 JAPAN TOUR COACHING STAFF

Manager – Steve Fish Pitching Coach – Graeme Lloyd Hitting Coach – David Nilsson Bullpen Coach – Micheal Nakamura Assistant Coach – Jason Pospishil Assistant Coach – Andrew Kyle