Here in France, Opening Day is still more than two months away. What a shame! But if that seems too long to wait, don’t worry, because in the meantime, some of France’s top talents are already getting the call to ‘play ball’.
That’s right!
We’re talking about the handful of French players currently enrolled in colleges and universities across the U.S., where teams from the Carolinas to California are kicking off their seasons right now.
In other words, it’s game on! And that makes this the perfect time to check in on what’s happening across the Atlantic and introduce once again some of the players chasing their American baseball dreams.
This is the third time we’ve presented ‘Five French Players’ in the U.S., and once again, it’s important to preface things by saying this is in no way an exhaustive list of ALL the young French players testing their skills abroad.
It’s also not a ranking of the best or most decorated French players, so to all the deserving young prospects who don’t appear here, our apologies. The Baseblog has nothing but RESPECT for the challenge you’ve undertaken.
The only criteria we’ve used to select the players below is to focus on individuals we haven’t featured in the past. And so, without further ado, let’s get to it…
Ismail Pontiac
The delayed start to last year’s D1 baseball season was both a blessing and a curse for teams like Montpellier’s Barracudas, who had several players on their roster currently enrolled in American university programs.
One of them is Ismail Pontiac, who was a major contributor to the team’s early-season success (he batted .372, with 20 hits in just 13 games) but was unfortunately unavailable for their October playoff series against eventual champions, Rouen’s Huskies.
The reason, of course, is a good one: the 21-year-old Perpignan native had to return to Arizona for the fall semester at Cochise College in Douglas, just north of the Mexican border.
The left-handed utility player can certainly hit, as he proved last summer with the Barracudas. But as a member of Cochise College’s Apaches, Pontiac’s primary role is as a pitcher.
This is his third (and final) year at the American community college, where, because the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pontiac was granted an extra year of eligibility and is still technically a sophomore (second-year student).
The Apaches kicked off their season last Friday (January 28) against Colorado Northwestern Community College and already boast a 3-1 record.
Mathias Lacombe
Joining Pontiac this year in southern Arizona is another French pitcher and fellow graduate of Toulouse’s Pôle France baseball academy: Mathias LaCombe.
Two years his junior, the right-hander is a freshman (first-year student) at Cochise. But like his countryman, LaCombe also spent part of last summer playing in the D1 championship, in his case for Toulouse’s Tigres.
Hailing from the Aquitaine region, the 19-year-old player got his start at Pineuilh’s Pitcher’s Baseball Club, near Bordeaux. He then played for Saint-Aubin’s Blue Jays and, in 2020, for Paris PUC.
With Toulouse last year, LaCombe had one win and one loss, with two saves and 26 strikeouts in 19 innings. For the Apaches, he’s only had one appearance so far, coming in on Saturday to relieve Pontiac. He allowed just one hit but also issued two walks in two innings.
Joseph Toubeaux
Another newcomer to the American college scene is Joseph Toubeaux, a position player whose first foray into the sport was tennis but who switched to baseball around the age of 12.
He then honed his skills with Normandy’s Rouen Baseball 76 club and attended the baseball academy there before earning a spot in the national academy, Pôle France, in Toulouse.
Toubeaux, 18, is now a freshman at Western Nebraska Community College, a two-year school in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and will get his first taste of action starting February 12, when his new team — the Cougars — opens its season against New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico.
Fairly interesting, Toubeaux is joined in Nebraska this season by a familiar face: pitcher Thibault Mercadier, also a freshman and a Pôle France alum who discovered baseball during a three-year stint, as a child, in the American state of Ohio.
Go Cougars!
Lilian Amoros
Like the Barracudas, Savigny’s Lions found themselves a bit shorthanded during last year’s D1 playoffs, which took place in October, well after the U.S. fall semester had begun.
The Lions, as a reminder, were eliminated in the semifinals by Sénart’s Templiers (three games to one). Both teams put on a show on the offensive side, but it was on the mound that Sénart really had the edge.
That’s why Lilian Amoros was sorely missed, after leaving the team to begin his studies at Vernon College in Texas.
He’s only 20 (almost 21), but Amoros is already a force to be reckoned with, as he proved last summer with Savigny, the same club he’s played for since he was just seven years old. In just under 40 innings pitched, the right-hander struck out 35 and posted a 1.59 ERA. He also picked up three wins (against just one loss), including a no-hitter against Paris UC!
Amoros spent last year at Clarendon College, a two-year school in Texas, playing alongside two other French players: Léo Jiminian and Pierre Emmanuel-Planes.
Amoros and Emmanuel-Planes transferred together to Vernon College, and with their new team, the Chaps, began the 2022 season last weekend. It wasn’t an ideal start for the team — they’re 0-2 after dropping a pair to DC Eastfield — but there are plenty more games to play.
Léo Jiminian
The final but by no means least on our 2022 list is the aforementioned Léo Jiminian, who also transferred last year from Clarendon College, in his case to East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in Johnson City, Tennessee.
ETSU’s baseball team, the Buccaneers, plays in the first division of the main American collegiate athletic association, the NCAA. And in joining the team, Jiminian, a junior (third-year student), becomes the first French baseball player to reach the NCAA Division 1 level.
France also boasts two NCAA D1 softball players: senior (fourth-year student) Mélissa Mayeux at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette; and Kimane Rogron, who after two very successful seasons at Texas’ Trinity Valley Community College, will play this year for Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Jiminian got his start at Saint-Lô’s Jimmer’s baseball club in Normandy. He also played for Stade Toulousain and Sénart’s Templiers, and last summer, made two appearances for Savigny’s Lions, collecting three hits in just seven at-bats. Later, he joined the French national team for the European Championships in northern Italy.
The French hopeful had a sensational final season (2021) at Clarendon College, batting .399 with seven home runs and 49 RBIs in 53 games.
Jiminian and the ETSU Buccaneers begin the 2022 campaign on February 18 with a three-game home stand against Northern Kentucky. They’ll then head to Blacksburg, Virginia, to take on Virginia Tech on February 22.
Benjamin Witte (Text and photos)
