Werribee’s Addison Bishop-Worn has been selected as one of 43 players selected for Australia’s under-18 baseball squad to head to America later this year.
The squad will head to the USA in September and October to play games in front of a big audience of scouts and college recruiters, with it being an off-year for the under-18 World Cup.
Selected off the back of the recent under-18 Australian youth championships, in which Bishop-Worn was a pivotal player to Victoria winning, the national squad will head to Florida to play in the highest level tournaments outside of World Cup events.
The training sessions and games will be played in front of professional scouts and college recruiters, while coming up against the best high-school players in the USA who are already committed to top division 1 schools.
When Bishop-Worn found out he said he was so overwhelmed, he didn’t know what to think.
“I couldn’t really think to be honest, I was a bit speechless,” he said.
The young-gun said the tournament win with Victoria was fantastic and his triple in the bottom of the fourth innings to give the winning run for his state was something that he’d never forget.
“That performance was amazing, finally getting that gold with all the boys,” he said.
“We’ve previously played two tournaments with all the same boys, so to finally get that gold was incredible.
“I was so excited, I was speechless. It was amazing to score the winning run and put us through to the gold medal.”
While Bishop-Worn was busy playing with the 18s, his younger brother Cooper was at the same tournament with Victoria’s under-16s side, which Bishop-Worn was a great experience.
“That was definitely one of the highlights of my baseball career so far, that was really good,” he said.
With scouts and recruiters set to scour over the team when they hit the states, Bishop-Worn doesn’t want to think too much about it and focus on the task at hand.
“It fills me with a bit of confidence but I’ll try to not let it get to my head and keeping my cool,” he said.
“That [reaching the MLB] is my goal, but however far it’ll take me I guess, so I’ll see how it goes.”
While he is frequently busy with other commitments, Bishop-Worn said he loves to head down to his home club of the Werribee Giants whenever he can, and line up in the firsts team with his brother.
“Of course, the atmosphere down there, all the coaches, it’s just amazing,” he said.
Bishop-Worn is one of nine Victorians selected for the trip.
