Baseball: Auckland Tuatara on the hunt for 'diamond in the rough'

Not even an impending hurricane could keep Auckland Tuatara manager Steve Mintz from making it to New Zealand in the search for the best local talent.

Mintz arrived in New Zealand on Thursday from North Carolina, where Hurricane Florence is expected to hit on Saturday.

"Before I came out here I had to prep for the hurricane that's coming right at my house. We're kind of keeping that in the back of our minds," he said of the category-three storm.

The former Major League Baseball pitcher, who now works as a pitching coach in the Texas Rangers organisation, will be on hand at the local Tuatara trials this weekend hoping to find a diamond in the rough.

Kiwi baseball players aged 16 and above have been encouraged to register for trials in Wellington and Christchurch on Saturday, and in Auckland on Sunday. After scouting over the two days, a list of finalists will be invited to attend a final trial on Sunday afternoon with the chance to fill two open spots on the roster of New Zealand's first professional baseball team.

Mintz said there was a simple explanation for what he would be looking for at the trials.

"The best available. We're not looking for specifically pitchers, infielders, catchers or anything. I hope some guy comes out there that nobody knows his name or has ever seen him and he's just this superstar stud baseball player.

"That's why we're doing it – to see if we can find things that might have fallen through the cracks. It happens in the United States all the time.

"We're looking for guys who can hit, throw, or maybe someone who's just really fast who we can use to steal a base in the ninth inning to win a ball game."

The Auckland Tuatara are on the hunt for talented prospects like North Shore City's Yuuki Takahashi. Photo / Photosport

The team's roster is slowly taking shape with seven players confirmed, and a handful more they were close to reaching an agreement with.

"We're super excited about the roster that we have and some of the other things we're still working on with the affiliate players, and we've got some independent ball guys that we're looking at.

"We also want to have a great contingent of Kiwi players. One of the things when I told the people I would take the job was that we had to make sure we were representing New Zealand very well."

Mintz will be in New Zealand only for this weekend's trials, before returning in November to prepare for the season.

Auckland Tuatara confirmed players

Pitchers: Josh Collmenter*, Scott Cone, Jimmy Boyce
Catchers: Beau Bishop
Infielders: Daniel Lamb-Hunt
Outfielders: Eric Jenkins*, Max Brown

*Import players