Interview: Christopher Byrnes (Manager, Switzerland National Team)
The underdog mentality might just be what this team needs to surprise at the 2023 Baseball European Championship
As of March 2023, the Swiss national baseball team ranked 44th on the WBSC rankings, but don’t think that it fazes Christopher Byrnes, their manager.
On the contrary, his team is going into the Baseball European Championship as an underdog, they embrace this distinction and will fight for their lives in Group D with Belgium, Germany and Israel.
Want to talk about underdogs being inspired? Not long ago, they ranked 49th and decided to make a shirt out of it to motivate their players. They wore it for two years and it drove them to strive for more. Last year, the team won their first tournament EVER for a baseball team in Switzerland, qualifying them for this month’s competition.
All 16 team’s rosters were revealed last Friday and you can examine them, including Switzerland, by following this link.
When you’ve finished consulting all the players and coaches they’ll be competing with, what stands out? I’ll help you: they have six (!!) pair of brothers on a single roster. We talk about it in the interview, below, with Byrnes.
I strongly suggest you take the time to listen/watch the discussion, since there are a number of very interesting tidbits about his approach to coaching and their status in this tournament. This guy lives and breathes baseball.
Want to know something else that’s cool? On the Switzerland Baseball and Softball Association website, they even invite some fans to ride with the team to the tournament for a few bucks, since they have some place to spare. A great way to raise money and for some lucky baseball fanatics to get closer to their national representatives.
For those interested, I’ll be present for the entire Baseball European Championship in the Czech Republic, starting next Sunday. Expect daily updates from the games and my experiences in Prague and five other towns around the country.
Here are some of the topics covered in this discussion:
His path to Switzerland and the baseball community
His passion for baseball and relentless drive to learn more
The development of baseball in Switzerland
The three pillars to success
Their status as underdogs and their first tournament win in history to qualify for the Baseball European Championship.
Their amazing network of professional that helps them prepare for this competition
Developing new skills to surprise the opponents
Dominic Scheffler (Cincinnati Reds), first home-grown player signed
Six sets of brothers will fill the roster and coaching staff
The challenge of getting support to build facilities
Taking umpire and baseball IQ test to build knowledge of the game