Australian Baseball

 

 
 
 
  

Nilsson, Harman lead Australians

Sunday, 5 March 2006 2:51:00 PM
By Maureen Mullen / Special to MLB.com
 

Dave Nilsson

   FORT MYERS, Fla. -- They are the baseball version of the alpha and the omega on Team Australia's roster. A kind of yin to the other's yang, Brad Harman and David Nilsson are the youngest and the oldest players on the roster.
Although they are separated by nearly two decades, Nilsson, 36, and Harman, 20, are united in their goal of representing their country in the World Baseball Classic.

"I think I can help the team first of all," said Nilsson, who began his eight-year Major League career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1992. "There's a lot of young guys here without Major League experience, so just to be an older veteran guy on the team that they can maybe lean on and lead them in the right direction. That's the first reason, and the second reason is, hopefully, I can still trick them a little bit."

In his eight years with the Brewers, Nilsson put together impressive numbers -- a .284 batting average, 105 home runs, and 470 RBIs, in 837 games -- and was a 1999 National League All-Star. He is also one of the few who have played professionally in the United States, Japan, and Australia.

Nilsson, who was appointed the team's captain for the Classic, has represented his country in international competition before, in the 2000 Olympics and with the silver medal-winning 2004 Olympic team, and the 1999 Intercontinental Cup. Harman's previous international competition experience is the 2005 World Cup in Amsterdam, in which Australia did not reach the medal round.

"I don't think I can compare them," Nilsson said. "The '04 Olympics was enjoyable. The main reason was the prior Olympics, we really underachieved. We had some repair work we had to do and I think we did that two years ago. To have played in the Big Leagues and to be around for the first World Classic, it makes a lot of sense and it's something I want to be a part of."
 

Brad Harman

     Harman, who signed as a non-drafted free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2003 and was rated the organization's seventh-best prospect this season by Baseball America, represents the new guard of Australian baseball.

"I want to go out there and play my game," said Harman. "Sort of see how I do facing some good pitching and see what I'm going to be up against. If I can handle myself in this tournament, in a couple years' time, there's no reason I can't make the jump up."

Nilsson has been where Harman would like to go.

"Guys like him, I'd like to get a chance to sit down and have a chat with," said Harman. "I think I can learn a lot from them. It will be great for me. He's been where I want to go. That's a benefit to having (him) around: see what I have to do and how hard I have to work to get there."

Nilsson, who is listed as 6-feet, 3-inches, and 255 pounds, will serve as the team's designated hitter for the Classic. Having him around is almost like having another coach on the team, said manager Jon Deeble.

"Having someone like him around, other players sort of raise their playing," Deeble said. "That's the impact of just having him around. He's a big leader and a great influence on the younger players."

Harman is at the other end of the baseball spectrum.

"He's a helluva baseball player," Deeble said. "He could get to the Big Leagues in three or four years. He just needs to keep working, keep his head down and his rear up."

After the Classic, their paths will once again diverge. Harman will rejoin the Philadelphia organization. Nilsson, who has been living in Phoenix for the past two years and working as a roving catching instructor for the Arizona Diamondback, will return to Australia and baseball.

"I've been talking with the (Australian baseball) federation and they've been trying to assist me with having some role down there," he said. "I'll be involved somehow, on the field, definitely. With a country that's young in baseball the last thing they need is another tie running around."
 

Maureen Mullen is a contributor for MLB.com.