Two members of the Great Britain Baseball programme have been chosen by Major League Baseball to attend the inaugural European Academy this August. Stephen Brown of High Wycombe, Bucks, and Michael Johnson of Horley, Surrey, will be amongst the 50 European teenagers enjoying an intense three-week camp led by MLB coaches and staff.

Tryouts for the Academy were held in seven different European cities at the start of April and over 400 young hopefuls, aged between 16 and 18 years old, travelled to these. Due to school commitments in the US, Johnson and Brown could not be there in person but were still considered, and subsequently accepted. GB sent two other players to the trials held in Amsterdam, Tom Bray (Essex) and Michael Clarke (Windsor).

Johnson has just finished his season at North Monterey County High School in California where he lead the team in virtually every offensive category and held a 6-2 record as a pitcher. At the time of writing, the school baseball team were on the verge of clinching a league title if they won their final two games. Johnson will return home to play for the British National League’s Bracknell Blazers and the Great Britain Juniors team in their European Championships in Pamplona this summer.

Brown grew up playing for Windsor and has started for Bracknell's National League team since he was fourteen. He played a vital role for the Great Britain Junior national team last summer in their European Championship Qualifier, hitting over .400 for the tournament and gaining the win from the mound in the final. He moved to California eighteen months ago to finish his pre-university schooling and to play baseball more often. He adds to his impressive tally over the past month, when he's also accepted an offer to attend Stanford University and been selected for the Great Britain Senior team travelling to Prague for the European Championships in July.