(Photo by Ryan Schembri – SMP Images / ABL Media)
Luke Wilkins isn’t the only Aussie in the Frontier League this season. Recently the Frontier Greys, the league’s travel team, played in Washington, PA where I was able to catch up with Grey’s outfielder Ben Lodge.
Lodge, who is 23 years old, is a native of Adelaide, Australia where he has been playing with the Adelaide Bite of the Australian Baseball League (ABL) since 2011. Unlike Wilkins, Lodge did not play college baseball in America and was the only Bite player with no college or professional playing experience outside of Australia.
However, the lack of experience didn’t stop Lodge from being named Rookie of the Year for the 2012/2013 ABL season.
After winning the Rookie of the Year award, Lodge was then invited to play on Team Australia in Sydney for the MLB Opening Series with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. In 2014, he was once again chosen to represent Australia on the world stage. This time he played in the 21/U Baseball World Cup held in Taiwan.
Lodge finished the 2014/2015 ABL season batting .247 in 42 games with career highs in home runs (6) and RBIs (26) all while having a perfect fielding percentage in the outfield.
In February, the Frontier Greys signed Lodge to play professional baseball here in America.
In 30 games so far this season with the Greys, Lodge is batting .224 with 6 doubles and 3 RBIs.
As with our other Aussie in America posts, you may comment or send in any questions you have for our next Q & A segment with Lodge.
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