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Q&A: Manager Liam Carroll On MLB's Red Sox-Yankees London Series And The Future Of British Baseball

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When manager Liam Carroll first brought his Great Britain squad to Brooklyn for the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in late 2016, he knew gaining entry into the springtime tournament would be an uphill battle. Although Team GB had talented players that included shortstop Jazz Chisholm (#1 prospect in the Diamondbacks system coming into 2019) as well as now-Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman on the coaching staff, they’d be facing some stiff competition.

Carroll’s team made it to the final game before falling to Israel, whose roster featured plenty of players with big league experience. Although disappointed with the loss, the East London native understood that playing on the WBC stage meant much more than just wins and losses for the future of baseball in his homeland. Exposure is everything, especially when trying to grow the sport in a place where cricket and soccer rule the roost.

That one week spent at a minor league ballpark in Coney Island did quite a bit in terms of raising awareness and interest in the British Baseball Federation, the national governing body for the game in Great Britain, but it pales in comparison to the fanfare this weekend’s London Series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees has already generated.

The heated rivals will face off at iconic London Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, the first time regular season MLB games will be played in Europe. We touched base with Carroll last month for a Q&A session that covered a number of topics, including the London Series as well as what's next for baseball in Great Britain.

Orgera: You made quite an impression here in the States during the WBC Qualifier with your passion for the game, especially when discussing the “GB Way”.  You talked at the time about your mission to inspire, develop and perform, and how important it was to play in the Qualifier since you had a bunch of people back home watching. When you returned home, could you see the effect it had in terms of folks being inspired and more into the sport?

Carroll: Thank you for the compliment! On our return we certainly felt that the young players in our program were motivated having watched the games and now had a new, exciting and tangible goal to strive for. As big as the Classic is, there wasn’t a ton of impact outside of the British Baseball community – and so it’s definitely events like the London Series that can put our sport and program on the map and, fingers crossed, inspire a new generation of ballplayers.

Orgera: What does the GB Way mean to you nowadays, as the game continues to grow in Great Britain?

Carroll: The GB Way is now largely inward-facing: a framework for our players, coaches and staff as we strive to perform on the international stage; it’s much more about X’s and O’s, policies and procedures than anything else. It’s our own playbook, just as the Red Sox and Yankees will have theirs. But the mission to Inspire, Develop and Perform remains fundamental to our existence and as well as focusing on our players and teams, we have initiatives to help British Baseball players and coaches alike…basically we want everything that we do to tick one of those boxes.

Orgera: What is your current role with the British Baseball Federation? Are you managing an active team at the moment?

Carroll: I’m the head coach of the Senior National Team, with performance and development oversight across each of our age group teams.

Orgera: Are you planning to manage the GB club again during the next WBC?

Carroll: Yes; I hope we’ll receive an invite to the next round of WBC qualifier. Before then we’re busy gearing up for this September’s European Championship, which begins the qualification process for the Tokyo Olympics. Alongside London Series this year and next, it’s a very exciting time for the program.

Orgera: The London Series has been heavily promoted over here, especially in NYC and Boston, as I’m sure you can imagine. What’s the buzz been like in London and the surrounding areas?

Carroll: It’s really picked up recently which has been great to see. Print, billboard and television advertising have all been picking up steam and between the playing and MLB fan communities the internet is buzzing. MLB’s legacy events have kicked off, which I hope will give us a bigger window to inspire people to play the sport.

Orgera: Your dad was born in New York and was a Jackie Robinson fan. Is it extra special for you that a club from New York is playing in this series?

Carroll: I misspoke in Brooklyn (first big press conference nerves, perhaps?!) – dad moved to New York from Chicago as an infant – but nonetheless, he certainly is a massive Robinson fan. I really would have been glad for any of the clubs to be playing here, probably would have got a more personal kick out of it had the Mets been coming - but to have the Yankees is massive and kudos to MLB and the clubs themselves for bringing the rivalry over. I expected one big market club but to get two, and this rivalry no less, is spectacular.

Orgera: You played with the national team starting in 1996, I believe. You didn’t talk much about your playing experiences while you were here in Brooklyn. What was it like playing for the GB club? What positions did you play?

Carroll: That’s right – I was selected for our 15U team in 1996, graduated 18U in 2000 and made the European Championship roster in 2003. It was the pinnacle of my playing career by far, the ultimate honor, and quite frankly a level of play I wasn’t prepared for. There were some incredible players and Davey Johnson managed the Dutch. I was a middle infielder – surviving at shortstop but much more at home at second base.

Orgera: Aside from your father’s influence, what got you so focused on baseball growing up in a place where other sports like football (soccer) and cricket are the most popular by a pretty wide margin? 

Carroll: Definitely dad, especially when we moved away from London and there was no baseball except what he provided and created. When I got involved in the GB setup there were some key coaches who took my development to another level, and I’d point to the GB players who’d moved to the US for college baseball – Nick Carter, Gavin Marshall, Alex Malihoudis, as having a huge influence on my goals and inspiring me to follow in their footsteps. I also remember absolutely wearing out the TV/video/magazines of MLB we could get at that time.

Orgera: We spoke briefly about your time at UNLV but never really got into it. How did that position come about and what were your duties there?

Carroll: I guess it started by not being a great player! The head coach at the time, Buddy Gouldsmith, was looking for players but thankfully my JUCO coach, Bret Davis, mentioned to him me and my interest in getting into coaching. I had some teammates way better than me who I’d watched play in a couple of California JUCO showcases, and so had met Buddy when he was on the recruiting trail – and perhaps that had stuck in his head. It was really fortuitous and I have Buddy to thank for taking a chance on adding me to his staff. I had a couple of different role titles, mostly serving as the Director of Baseball Operations and working primarily with recruiting, video, travel, camps. I was fortunate to have a broad role and work alongside some phenomenal coaches, which provided a great platform for the roles in international baseball that would come my way.

Orgera: While you were here, you mentioned that you’d love to delve into analytics a bit more but couldn’t spend much time on it since everyone in your program is a volunteer and the resources simply weren’t there. As analytics have taken a greater role in the MLB game since then, has your program been able to focus on that area a bit more? 

Carroll: Not as much as I’d like while our resources remain so thin. Our staffs continue to do a great job advanced scouting with what we have; given how much more international baseball is being streamed, the quality and quantity of data we have access to is improving – so we’ll certainly be able to do a bit more at the major competitions coming up than we’ve done in the past.

Orgera: This series is only a couple of games, but it’s with two of the highest-profile clubs in the sport. You talked a lot about the long-lasting impact just a few days in the WBC Qualifier could have on young kids back home getting into baseball and perhaps even making it their sport of choice going forward. Along those lines, what kind of impact do you think hosting a Yankees-Red Sox rivalry series right in London could have on your program’s recruitment efforts and on the general interest in baseball in the short and long-term?

Carroll: Game-changer, especially with the return of the series in 2020, and with another huge rivalry no less. I don’t think we’ll get another opportunity as big as we have in this window. It’s critical that we’re all ready – our federation, GB Baseball, and every club and league – to leverage the opportunity. I have no doubt that there are enough kids here that can and will choose baseball that in the years to come we can become really, really good.

Orgera: In an ideal world, where would you like to see baseball in Great Britain five years from now? 

Carroll: Olympic and WBC champions! And for the sport more broadly, children knowing they can choose baseball in their own community.

Orgera: I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Joey Mellows — a gentleman from Portsmouth also known as The Baseball Brit, who is traveling around the U.S. this season trying to attend 162 games and raise awareness of the game back home. So far he’s gotten a significant amount of press and has really made himself known throughout the league. In fact, I saw him in the press box in New York recently. How important do you think it is for people like Mellows — even though it’s just one man — to keep folks in your country talking about baseball and maybe giving it a shot in terms of being a fan or even playing?

Carroll: Joey is awesome. I’m blown away by his efforts and it’s been incredible to watch him take off. I think he’s created interest in the London Series that otherwise wouldn’t have existed and that he’s willing to don his GB hat while doing so is huge for us! His is a great story and I think that the coverage of the London Series becomes so much better with that personal touch; there are so many other diehard MLB fans here and I hope that more of their stories are told, on both sides of the Atlantic, and I think some people will be able to relate and jump on the baseball bandwagon.

Orgera: Will you be attending the London Series? Will other members of the British Baseball Federation?  Does the Foundation have anything special planned for those games or the events surrounding them?

Carroll: Someone asked me which day I was going to – I can’t fathom missing one of them. There will be a great turnout from the playing community and our federation Board has been working closely with MLB here in London. I hope that things will work out for our players and staff to visit the workout day. MLB has also been fantastic with their legacy initiatives – recently holding a coach education event and youth camp that included GB Baseball.

Orgera: Is the Federation still volunteer-only? If so, how tough is it to get folks to dedicate their time and resources when cricket and football get the lion’s share of attention? 

Carroll: The federation’s Board and all GB Baseball staff remain volunteers. It can be tough to fill all of the Board’s positions – especially given that the people involved are usually also helping their own clubs. I think this situation is much like it is for players – we’re not going to compete with the traditional sports here – but we don’t need to because there are enough people to go around. We need to target the right niches for volunteers and players alike – and hopefully the London Series will help us to focus our attention in order to inspire more people to get involved in baseball, whether that be as a fan, player, coach, official or administrator.

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