Baseball Jobs Overseas Podcast

In this episode, we talk to Ben Meyer about how to work your way up the professional baseball ladder. After receiving limited playing time at a D3 college, Ben didn’t have many options. He played in a men’s league in Los Angeles where he developed as a pitcher and then flew himself to the Netherlands to play for a 2nd Division Dutch team. After a few successful seasons, he worked his way onto the top team in Europe, the Amsterdam Pirates where he won a championship. He then headed to the Japan Winter League where he earned a contract with the Ishikari Red Phoenix for the 2024 season where he recently won the championship.

In this episode, Matthew Malconian walks us through his decision to quit his corporate office job and pursue a baseball career overseas. After getting his foot in the door with a 2nd Division German team, the Füssen Royal Bavarians, Matthew invests in himself and attends the Japan Winter League with aspirations of playing in Japan. After a successful JWL season, Matthew signs with the Bibai Black Diamonds for the 2024 season where he was among the league leaders in nearly every pitching category.

Patrick Cromwell and Andrew Cosgrove are a rare breed of BBJO member. Both of these talented former division one players from top programs decided to forgo the MLB dream and use their talents to play baseball in some of the most desirable places to live overseas. But what separates them from most members with similar baseball backgrounds, is that they were less concerned about the level of baseball, as long as the location fit what they were looking for.

Whether opening for Green Day or pitching at Dodgers stadium, there is one thing for certain about Scott Radinsky........ he always brings it. In this episode, the former MLB pitcher and coach —who doubled as a punk rock singer for his band Pulley during the MLB offseason— talks about his simple approach to the game, whether facing Ken Griffey Jr. in his heyday or coaching a pitcher back from the edge of being sent down to the minors and onwards to a long MLB career. His approach —and punk rock attitude— proved successful, making him a fan favorite at both Comiskey Park and Dodgers Stadium during the height of his pitching career which saw him throw five of his 11 MLB seasons with a sub 3.00 ERA as one of the most used arms out of the pen. After a brief discussion to start the podcast about his other side gig as the owner of one of the biggest indoor skate parks in California, the talk turns baseball and never goes back as Scott uses his storytelling skills to share some cool MLB stories before diving deep into his approach to the game as both a player and a coach, balancing his two lives at a musician and professional athlete, and ending with some fun rapid fire questions about his playing, coaching and musical career. Today, Scott continues to tour with his band and is a free agent looking for a coaching or managing career in Europe. We invite you to listen to what we consider our best episode to date.

Seattle-born, Ethan Skuija, has always been a dominant pitcher. He dominated as a kid growing up in Canada, in junior college in California, and in division one baseball playing for CSU Bakersfield. None of this changed since he decided to take his career overseas after missing the draft. At the time of this interview, Ethan was about 6 weeks into a winter ball stint in Australia for the 2022-2023 season, his second season overseas that saw him go on to dominate. He was fresh off a dominant season in the Czech Republic where he posted a 0.62 ERA in 47.2 innings of work, with a whopping 90 strikeouts in what many regard as a strong hitting league. Although Ethan was not a member of our website, he was a pitcher we could not ignore when recruiting for our Globetrotters team that would compete at Prague Baseball Week against the likes of the Spanish and Czech National teams. In this interview, we talk about Ethan's career in baseball, his mental approach to the game, the unmatched energy he brings to the dugout when not pitching, and of course, all the goodness about his experience playing baseball overseas thus far. Since this interview, Ethan has gone on to pitch for the Savannah Party Animals in 2023 —a role he claims he was "born for"— and then finished his 2023 summer in the Atlantic League with the Staten Island FerryHawks. Ethan's story is far from over and there will definitely be a part two to this interview.