There is no better way to learn about the cultures and the people of the world than by watching a baseball game. There are so many countries represented in the sport by both the players and fans. But one of the countries that fans may not hear about so much is Germany. Having only produced 43 major leaguers, Germany is yet to make a huge mark on the game but it has certainly put out some notable people like Edwin Jackson and Max Kepler, who the Dodgers faced in the just-concluded three-game interleague series against the Minnesota Twins. So, hard as it may be to find someone born and raised in Germany in professional baseball, Dodgers fans should look no further than their own minor league system. Currently tucked away in Rancho Cucamonga is 21-year-old righty Sven Schueller who is trying his best to make his mark on the league all while representing his homeland, Germany.

Wuppertal, Germany
(Wikipedia)

Born in the town of Wuppertal, Schueller did not exactly grow up around the game of baseball. Having lived on the other side of the world and having to deal with a massive time difference, Schueller did not have much exposure to the game that he would later play in the United States. As such, his story leading up to his career in professional baseball is all the more interesting. Schueller, when asked about how he got started with the sport, said that he only began playing in 2005. His inspiration to begin playing was actually a trip that his family took to the United States in 2003. On that trip, Schüller was exposed to baseball for the first time and it was love at first sight. Two years later Schüller began playing baseball and his career took off from there.

In Germany, unlike the United States, there is no such thing as school organized sports. Sports are all played in club teams. When Schueller was just 15 he moved to a Baseball academy in Bavaria and attended school in Regensburg. Once he was there he played for the Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg and was also selected to play for the U18 Bavaria State team as well as the U18 German national team where he participated in tournaments like the all state championship and European championship.

Playing with U18 was the turning point for Schueller who began getting international recognition from teams in the US. Schueller’s game eventually caught the eyes of Dodgers scouts who signed him to a minor league free agent contract in 2013. In 2014, Schueller came to the US to play baseball and started in the Arizona Rookie League at just 18 years old. The following season, 2015, Schueller was placed in the Arizona Rookie league for the second straight season and played there for the entire year. During the 2016 season, Schueller split time between the Arizona Rookie League Dodgers and the Pioneer Rookie League Ogden Raptors. He also did a 14-game stint in the Australian Baseball league.

This year though has been a new tale for the 21-year-old. Schueller. He began the 2017 season with the Great Lakes Loons. In his 23 games and 48 1/3 innings with the Dodgers Low Single-A affiliate Schueller was electric, posting an ERA of just 1.49. The front office took notice and promoted him to the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on July 3. Although Schueller has has yet to record a win or loss in four relief appearances with the Quakes, he owns an impressive 3.12 ERA through 8.2 innings pitched.

Sven Schueller
(Photo credit – Steve Saenz)

Lastly, Schueller took some time to share his goals for the short term and long term. Most of the time when asked about goals, players like to share how they will be successful and tend to leave out a goal for their team as a whole. Schueller broke that mold. The first goal was his ultimate goal to make it to the big leagues and make his mark on the Show as a German player. He said that it would be, “a great honor to play in the big leagues and be in the same category as Aaron Altherr, Bruce Maxwell, Max Kepler, and Donald Lutz”. But, what was most impressive was when he shared his goal for this year. Schueller said that his short-term goal is to, “continue to pitch well with Rancho and help lead them to the playoffs”. Being a team player is so important in a game where a player spends almost half the year with his teammates and it is impressive to see that in a player who is both so young and still fairly new to the game in America.

In the end, it was an absolute pleasure getting to know Sven Schueller, whose story is quite different from those of players from this country or the Dominican Republic. Schueller not only has an incredible journey to share but is also walking a trail that not many others have had the chance to take. And with his combination of success on the mound and a good sense of being a good teammate, Schueller is in an excellent position to achieve his goal of being a German-born major leaguer.

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(Editor’s note: According to Sven, the proper spelling of his name is Schüller, however it is listed as Schueller on the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes website, MiLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com).