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04 November 2024 By Eric Balnar

By Eric Balnar

- ABL 24/25 - Previews

A Guide to the Perth Heat | Preview, Roster, Storylines ahead of Australian Baseball League 2024-25

For Perth Heat’s active roster, click here.

Perth dominated the start of the Australian Baseball League’s re-birth. They went to the first five ABL Championship Series, winning five of them.

The pedigree has remained but the results have changed. The Heat have been in the final game of the season four out of the last five seasons. But they’ve lost each one of their bids to win another championship.

 

With players from the Tampa Bay Rays and Japan plus a tried, tested & true Aussie core, is this the year the Heat flip the script?

WATER COOLER TALK


Last Season’s Performance: 24-15, finished second. Beat Brisbane in ABLSF 2-1. Lost to Giants 2-1.

What is the storyline of the season?

The Heat have become the bridesmaids of the Australian Baseball League.

They’ve lost the last two best-of-three ABL Championship Series by a score of 2-1. On both occasions, they had a 1-0 lead after game one with two opportunities to claim the Shield.

To add to the wounds, the Heat have been in the ABLCS four of the past five seasons, losing four of them.

They have such a talented Australian core. Can they finally get it done?

What major changes have there been?

The structure of the Heat remains largely the same. There are no player acquisitions from interstate and no Perth player embarked for another destination.

The coach (Andy Kyle) is the same, the affiliation with the Tampa Bay Rays remain. A group of Team Australia talent is back to hunt down the Shield.

The one major move is agreeing to an affiliation with the Korean Baseball Organisation’s NC Dinos. They are sending over four players, including 2023 fourth overall draft selection Shin Yeong-Woo.

Ins: Affiliation with NC Dinos (KBO)
Outs: Affiliation with Houston Astros & Cincinnati Reds.

Who are the locals we should know about?

They’re led by Tim Kennelly. He is often called the GOAT (greatest of all time) in the Australian Baseball League circles.

Kennelly is the ABL’s all-time leader in homers, RBI, hits, and games played. If you thought the 37-year-old was slowing down, think again. Kennelly had a stretch last season where he ripped off ten hits in ten at-bats. He is Team Australia’s captain.

But there are five other mainstays of Team Australia on the Heat. First-baseman Jake Bowey, outfielder Ulrich Bojarski, catcher Alex Hall plus pitchers Warwick Saupold and Will Sherriff have been core reasons the Heat are consistently contenders.

Hall won the ABL MVP in 2023.

 

has turned into a two-way star. We knew he could slug it, but last year he put up solid numbers as a pitcher. He was their Game 3 starter in the Championship Series.

Warwick Saupold played in the Major Leagues for parts of three seasons with the Detroit Tigers. He also starred for the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO.

Who are their best imports?

The Tampa Bay Rays imports seem to have some speed about them. While they are young, they stole a combined 74 bases with Class-A Charleston in 2024.

The NC Dinos sent over four prospects from Korea. Headlining them is 21-year-old pitcher Shin Yeong-Woo. He was selected fourth overall in the 2024 KBO Draft and features a mid-90s fastball.

Infielder Fumiya Kurokawa has played parts of five seasons in the NPB with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. 

The ever reliable Tyler Beardsley returns for his fifth season as an ABL import starting pitcher. He has consistently been one of the best arms and pitched in the last four Championship Series.

Give me a breakout star!

BJay Cooke. The 21-year-old just finished a season in Class-A with the Athletics organisation. He is naturally athletic, makes plenty of tidy plays in the field. Cooke played 27 games for the Heat in 2022-23.

PLAYER INFORMATION


The Australian Baseball League employs a points system to account for roster spots and import / local balance. The points are in parentheses. Read about the system here.

Information based on player list supplied to ABL on November 1.

C – Enderson Delgado (2)  – A 20-year-old from Venezuela who has already spent three years in the Rays’ system. In 55 games at Class-A Charleston, Delgado hit .255 with four homers and 21 RBI. He helped the RiverDogs reach the postseason this year.

C – Alex Hall (-1) – 25-year-old Hall has made a huge impact on Australian baseball. Hall won the 2022-23 ABL MVP award when he hit for a .360 average with with eight homers and 37 RBI in 38 games. A former affiliate with the Brewers, he has a career .284 average in 213 ABL games. Hall played for Australia at the 2023 World Baseball Classic and is on the Premier12 roster for November.

1B / SP – Jake Bowey (-1) – The 28-year-old is entering his 11th ABL season, but it’s the last two years which saw him break out. Bowey has clobbered 13 homers and 54 RBI across 54 games during the last two seasons, while hitting for a .296 average and .898 OPS. He also started to pitch games for the Heat in 2023-24. He had a 1.93 ERA in 14.1 innings and started Game 3 of the Championship Series. Bowey plays for Team Australia as well.

2B – Jess Williams (-2) – The 25-year-old has built a six season career in the ABL after winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 2017-18. Williams, a former Brewers prospect who had a couple of games in Triple-A, missed two seasons due to injury. Last year in his return, Williams had a .267 average in 30 games.

INF – Fumiya Kurokawa (Rakuten Golden Eagles) (0) – The 23-year-old infielder brings 92 games of NPB experience to the Perth Heat. He’s bounced up-and-down between the majors and minors in Japan, but this year hit .232 in his 22 games at the top level. Out of the draft in 2020, he was a highly touted second baseman with power. He’ll use the ABL to help find his footing.

INF – Byron Armstrong (-2) – The Perth-born 23-year-old played fifteen games for the Heat in his first proper full-season in the ABL in 2023-24. He hit .250 over that stretch and played the middle-infield roles.

INF – BJay Cooke (-2) – The 21-year-old is coming back to Perth after a full-season with the Athletics, where he primarily played at the Class-A level. Cooke is known for his defensive abilities and played for Australia at the U23 World Cup.

INF – Angel Mateo (2)  – The 19-year-old Dominican hit .224 in his first full season above Rookie Ball while playing with Class-A Charleston River Dogs. He brings speed to the bases, chalking up 26 stolen bases in 2024. He spent time playing all three positions in the outfield.

INF – Ben Nesbit (-2) – 17-year-old Nesbit is a promising WA prospect who starred for the Eastern Phantoms at the Senior League World Series and for the U18 Australian national junior squad.

SS – Carlos Colmenarez (Rays, 2) – The 20-year-old from Venezuela just finished his first full season in Class-A. He also represented Spain at the recent European championships. With the Charleston RiverDogs, he only hit .202 but he had a .357 on-base-percentage, working 54 walks over the course of 94 games. Carlos Colmenarez hit one homer with 42 RBI and 15 stolen bases. At one time, he was rated the #19 prospect in a talented Tampa Bay Rays’ organisation.

OF – Ulrich Bojarski (-1) – The 26-year-old brings ABL experience and five years with the Detroit Tigers minor league teams. He is a career .281 hitter in the ABL with 28 homers and 113 RBI in 192 games. The Team Australia star had his best season in 2022-23 when he hit for a .353 average with eight homers and 35RBI. He missed half of last season due to injury.

OF – Tim Kennelly (-1) – Kennelly, 37, leads the all-time modern-day ABL lists in home runs (62), RBI (241), games played (414) and hits (478). Kennelly has also played in four World Baseball Classics for Australia. He reached as high as Triple-A in a long minor league career. He is the captain of the Heat. He is just the GOAT.

OF – Jhon Diaz (Rays, 2) – The 21-year-old outfielder split time between Class-A Charleston and High-A Bowling Green in 2024. He hit .206 in 107 games this season, hitting 14 homers with 50 RBI and 30 stolen bases. The native of the Dominican Republic has some pop, especially for a player who stands at just 5’8.

OF – Sean Garratt (-2) – A 31-year-old who has played State League in Western Australia set to make his ABL debut. His WA State League club is the Victoria Park Belmont Reds.

RHP – Warwick Saupold (-1) – Saupold is one of Australia’s most accomplished players. He is one of just 38 Australians to ever play in the Major Leagues. The 34-year-old pitched for the Tigers from 2016-18 and in Korea with the Hanwha Eagles from 2019-20 before returning to Australia. Saupold has started 18 games and ate nearly 100 innings over the last two seasons for the Heat.

LHP – Will Sherriff (-1) – 22-year-old Sherriff was on Australia’s World Baseball Classic Roster in 2023 and will play for his country at the upcoming Premier12. The last two seasons, Sherriff has become a reliable high-leverage innings pitcher. He trained with top-level Japanese outfit Rakuten Golden Eagles in the off-season.

RHP – Kieren Hall (-2) – 23-year-old Hall pitched his rookie ABL season for the Heat in 2023-24 after a four year college career highlighted by a stop with NCAA Div 1 program Evansville. Hall pitched for Australia at the recent U23 World Cup.

RHP – Jordan Power (-2) – The 25-year-old returns for his third ABL season. His best year came in 2022-23, when he tossed 35.0 innings with a 5.66 ERA. Power pitched for Toledo in the NCAA.

RHP – Sam Kennelly (-2) – The 28-year-old was once an infielder in the Pirates’ organisation. He recent converted to become a pitcher. He had a 2.45 ERA in seven appearances and looks to have an expanded role in 2024-25.

RHP – Shin Yeong-woo (신영우) (NC Dinos, 1) – Shin seems to be the prized possession of the lot. The 21-year-old was the fourth overall selection in the 2023 KBO Draft. The right-handed arm appeared in four KBO games in May, allowing 11 earned runs in 9.2 innings. He spent the rest of his time in the minor leagues. Shin heads to Australia for some more seasoning.

RHP – Won Jong-hae (원종해) (NC Dinos, 1) – 19-year-old Won Jong-hae was selected in the seventh round of the 2024 draft, and has yet to appear in the top flight of Korean baseball this season.

LHP – Seo Eui-tae (서의태) (NC Dinos, 1) – The 27-year-old is with his second KBO team. He first appeared in 2018 with Nexen. He signed with the NC Dinos in 2024 and has appeared in 11 games, allowing eight runs for a 9.36 ERA in the top division.

LHP – Park Ji-han (박지한) (NC Dinos, 1)- 23-year-old lefty Park Ji-Han has yet to appear in the KBO. He was drafted in the 2019 KBO Draft.

RHP – Nick Alexiou (-2) – The 33-year-old from Canada has since moved to Western Australia. He appeared in five games and 3.2 innings last season, allowing just one earned run.

LHP – Tom Bailey (-2) – The 32-year-old has played in eight ABL seasons and has played for the national team in the past. He has a career 5.61 ERA in 178.0 innings.

RHP – Tyler Beardsley (4) – This is the 30-year-old American’s fifth ABL season. He played one season with the Adelaide Giants (2019-20), one with the Aces (2020-21) and now three with the Heat. Beardsley has reached the ABL Championship Series every season, winning once with the Aces in 2021. He has a career 3.92 ERA in the ABL and has been one of the league’s premier starters. Beardsley spent 2024 split between Kane County (American Association) and the Mexican League.

LHP – Todd Hatcher (-2) – The 22-year-old from Perth appeared in three games last season, his debut ABL year, allowing six earned runs in 3.2 innings.

RHP – Dariel Fregio (4) – After a four year college career at St. Leo, Fregio has pitched the last two seasons with the Washington Wild Things in the Frontier League. He has an ERA hovering around the 4.00 mark in 30 starts over the two seasons in the Frontier League.

RHP – Jai Hewitt (-2) – 18-year-old Hewitt played in a few games for the Heat in 2023-24. He represented Australia at the 2023 U18 World Cup. Son of Heat legend Jason.

RHP – Matt Kennelly (-2) – A four-time ABL Champion making a return to the ABL. He previously was a position player who reached as high as Triple-A. Now, he turns his talents to the mound.

RHP – Sam Kennelly (-2) – The 28-year-old was once an infield prospect with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He’s since converted to a pitcher and was a WA State League All-Star in 2024. He allowed just two earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched last season.

LHP – Raleigh Pelkonen (-2) – A Western Australian returning home from college. Pelkonen played at Arizona Western College.

LHP – Joseph Ranford (-2) – He appeared in four games last season for the Heat, after returning home from Campbellsville College.

RHP – Tucker Smith* (4) – The 27-year-old had a 1.29 ERA in 14.0 innings for the Heat last year. He started 20 games for Trois-Rivieres in the Frontier League in 2024, going 8-4 with a 3.24 ERA.

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