Hi, I am Chase Lambin. You have probably know me as “The Kid” in my Dad’s articles “The Coach”

on ClubHouseGAS. I am twenty-nine which is not a kid in baseball years but was the youngest of

two boys. Just finished my third year in AAA in the Pacific Coast League and in late October my

international agent called and said there was a Japanese team interested in working me out for a

week in hopes of maybe signing me for the upcoming 2009 season. I said, “SWEET! I’m in!” This

is something very rare and probably only five to ten guys a year get to go work out for one of

these teams. Unless you’re an established Major Leaguer, it is a golden opportunity to go play in

Japan. Most guys I play with would give their left arm to have a chance at playing in Japan. They

pay big league money and the country worships the game of baseball. Each team is allotted four

roster spots for foreign players and they have the WHOLE world to choose from (Australia,

Dominican, Korea, Puerto Rico, the US etc.) Since there are only 12 teams, there are 48 TOTAL

jobs available! (and half of those are pitchers) The team interested in me is the Chiba Lotte

Marines (right outside of Tokyo), and Bobby Valentine manages the team! Bobby managed the

Texas Rangers for eight years and the New York Mets for seven. But here is the kicker. I had FOUR

days to get ready before I would be flying out! Ouch! I hadn’t touched a bat since the season

ended two months ago! I quickly got ready by hitting and fielding as much as I could over the

next four days. I packed my bags the night before with no idea what I was getting into. Just the

way I like it! Ha! Fasten your seatbelts! I am going to chronicle my nine-day magical mystery tour.

Chase

www.chaselambin.com