The expected scenario of a loss to the Netherlands and wins against Croatia and Ukraine played out perfectly. The warm-up against the strong team, then the climb against two less powerful teams on paper. The pitching collective rotated, the complete collective of players also got to rotate against Ukraine, allowing players who hadn’t played the first two matches to get in the game.
This collective has found its rhythm, the rhythm of winning, the rhythm of wanting to do as well as the 23U. Keino Perez is one of those magicians who drives the mental game. Of course, the club performances of these players don’t immediately translate to international matches, but the framework of a collective with a victory objective is clearly drawn.
For example, one might be surprised by an Ernesto Martinez who went 10 at-bats with just one hit, a Brossier who managed one hit in nine at-bats. On the other hand, Kovacs and Brown are more in line with their usual statistics. One can only rejoice, hoping that the good players maintain their level and that the rest of the team steps up.
On the starting pitcher side, two players did a very strong job by winning their matches: Ben Couvreur against Croatia and Nathan Laot against Ukraine. On the relief side, Moulin and Prioul for the second match, Clara and Mercadier for the last match also knew how to bring serenity to their team. The pitchers who faced the Netherlands naturally had a harder time. The pressure, the tension got the better of their control. How can you blame them when you have players like Gregorius or Didder in front of you who have gone through the Major League. When you look at the AVG of the Dutch team which stands at .427 against .269 for the French team, you can feel that the fight is unequal at this stage.
Rest day this Wednesday, the pool stages have been passed with brilliance and normality. On to the quarterfinals and it will be the German team. The latter won their three matches against Belgium, Switzerland and especially Israel (which, by the way, doesn’t look anything like the team from the World Baseball Classic). Their pitchers are fewer but all powerful, let’s hope we don’t face Rimmel. On the offensive side, five players have an average above .400. Strikes in the low zone, hits more than fly balls should flourish more commonly throughout this quarterfinal.
Let’s hear Nolan Soliveres give his feelings and those of the team as a whole.
First of all, what stands out the most after these 3 preparation matches and 3 pool matches is the team cohesion and the atmosphere on and off the field.
We manage to have a diverse and united team with the playing experience of Fred Hanvi and Felix Brown, the reinforcement of Ernesto Martinez and the young U23s.
Having players like Esteban Prioul or Dylan Gleeson who have been 7-time French champions and Paolo Brossier and Fabian Kovacs recent winners of the French season have started to develop this winning spirit.
We have passed a big step, now, we have a day off to be able to follow up with a second very important chapter, the final phases.
It’s a very fast tournament with few matches so we are confident in our group.
