The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

TEDDY Sweeting said he literally came to tears when he saw the potential that the Bahamas possesses, watching nine players perform for Great Britain at the World Baseball Classic Qualifier.

Sweeting, president of the Bahamas Baseball Federation, along with Patrick Knowles Sr, were invited to Brooklyn, New York where they got to watch seven of the nine players inserted into Great Britain’s line-up in the four-team package in the four-day tournament over the weekend.

Great Britain dropped its opener 5-2 to Israel, but bounced back to knock off Brazil 4-3 to advance to the semi-final. In their rematch, Israel routed Great Britain 9-1 and eventually secured the 16th and final berth in the 2017 WBC in Seoul, South Korea in March.

As a guest of Great Britain, Sweeting said he was quite impressed with what he saw from the Bahamian players.

“They performed extremely well. The level of play from a lot of the young men from rookie ball was outstanding,” he said. “They performed against minor leaguers and former major league players.

“If you look at the make up of Team Israel, their pitching staff was comprised of all Triple A pitchers and former Major League pitchers. It showed in their ability to play extremely well, whether the game was a blowout or a close one.”

Looking at the quality of players that the Bahamas had on display, Sweeting said he came to “tears,” knowing that all of the players came up through the federation.

“It was just exciting to see them play at that level,” said Sweeting, who either coached or helped to instruct all of the players in their developmental process. “I was very pleased with the way they have improved and went out there and performed.”

Even with all of the players they had in their line-up, Sweeting said the announcers kept asking for Lucius Fox, one of the highly recruited players to come out of the Bahamas last year. Fox was unable to join his compatriots as he’s recuperating from an injury.

“The Bahamas is becoming well known in respect of the Major League Baseball market,” Sweeting said. “The Bahamas is now in a position to compete on its own at the international level.

“So the game has to stop now. That is going to be my mission until I walk away from the game. We have to make the decision now on what direction they want to go with baseball in this country. But baseball cannot and must not be allowed to function under the two umbrellas. It’s not going to be successful.”

Calling out the Bahamas Olympic Committee, Sweeting said a decision should be made on removing the international sanctioning from the Bahamas Baseball Association and placed on the BBF, which is doing all of the work with the growth and development of the sport in the country.

“We had nine young men competing on Great Britain’s team, which means that the Bahamas could have submitted their own national teams, inclusive of pitchers in the minor league system, who have legacy status in the Bahamas, either by grandparents,” he said.

“We have a number of players in the minor league system that have that status. A prime example is one of the pitchers in the New York Yankees organisation, who has family affiliation in Spanish Wells.”

After the Bahamas was not allowed to field its own team, Sweeting said Antoan Richardson and Albert Cartwright got to compete for Great Britain for the second time.

He said Richardson then introduced the BBF to Great Britain and the process began to get the other seven players to join the team.