From State League Australia to an ABL All-Star with Jaz Shergill

Jaz Shergill first contacted me in September 2014 looking to take his career overseas to Australia for the winter, with a goal of getting on with a club in the Australian Baseball League (ABL). At the time, the Eastern New Mexico University grad had already attempted to play Indy ball in the states but struggled to find clubs who will sign him, largely due to the fact that he was Canadian which comes along with visa complications. He went on to play a summer of semi-pro baseball in the InterCounty Baseball League (IBL) in his native land of Canada before he decided that he needed to look overseas to pursue his dream of playing pro ball. With a good sinking fastball hovering between 88-91, I knew that Shergill had the ability to play in the ABL, but to get directly into the ABL especially that close to the beginning of the season, would be a difficult task. Knowing this, I advised Shergill that we should try and get him on with a state league club (second division) by offering to fund his own flight and work, thus freeing him up contractually to play with an ABL club should the opportunity arise. He was on board with the plan so the next step was to find him a club. Almost immediately he received some interest from the Redcliffe Padres of the Queensland State League, who offered him accommodations with a host family and a job as a doorman making $22 AUS an hour. Shergill jumped on this opportunity and within two weeks of our first communication, he was on a flight headed for Australia. Shergill hit the ground running as he immediately reached out to the Brisbane Bandits of the the Australian Baseball League to inquire about the possibility of trying out as a walk on. His emails, however, went unanswered but from a distance the Bandits were watching as he pitched in his first outing for the Padres. It was when Shergill pitched in a scrimmage game with the state league all-stars against the Bandits when he finally caught his break as he impressed former big leaguer, Bandits GM and Aussie baseball legend Dave Nilsson who then made him an offer to play for the Bandits shortly after.