GERMANY – Major League Baseball is pleased to announce that the 2009 MLB European Academy will take place at the Italian Olympic Training Center in Tirrenia from August 11 – 29. The Academy will once again bring together the best young players in Europe and Africa to work for three-weeks with top Major League coaches and instructors. Our previous editions of the Academy were very successful – with 28 players signed to professional contracts – and we are looking forward to an even better Academy this year.

The sessions, directed by MLB staff and scouts from the MLB Scouting Bureau, will offer players a chance to demonstrate their skills in front of professional evaluators. In an effort to give each player a chance to be seen thoroughly, we will be limiting the number of participants at each session. A maximum of 50 players will be invited to each try-out, so we ask that you recommend only the best players from your cadet, junior and senior national programmes.

The Academy Try-out Sessions will run from April 26 – May 7 at seven locations around Europe:

APRIL 26
Stockholm Baseball Club – Stockholm, Sweden *

APRIL 29
Rouen Huskies Baseball Club – Rouen, France

APRIL 30
Italian Olympic Training Center – Tirrenia, Italy

MAY 2
Montjuic Olympic Training Center – Barcelona, Spain

MAY 5
Krc Altron Baseball Club – Prague, Czech Republic)**

MAY 6
Amsterdam Pirates Baseball Stadium – Amsterdam, Netherlands

MAY 7
Bad Homburg Hornets Baseball Club – Bad Homburg, Germany

* The session in Stockholm will be run by MLB Europe staff without members of the MLB Scouting Bureau.

** The 1 PM session in Prague will be open to players from all visiting nations. The 4 PM session in Prague will be for Czech players only.

Photo courtesy of Therwil Flyers

Source: Confederation of European Baseball

Tags: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden