T-Rat Talk: Alex Hall

Alex Hall is the first two-time subject of Kyle Lobner's T-Rat Talk and he earned it. Since Hall was featured in 2022, he has won a major award playing in the Australian Baseball League, homered in the World Baseball Classic for Australia, and homered a lot for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

If you drilled a hole straight through the center of the Earth from Neuroscience Group Field, you’d come out in the southern Indian Ocean. The closest land mass to your destination would be the west coast of Australia and, depending on the time of year, you might find Timber Rattlers catcher/outfielder Alex Hall there. Hall, a 23-year-old native of Perth in Western Australia, returns each year for summer in the Southern Hemisphere and plays for the Australia Baseball League’s Perth Heat.

Hall debuted in the ABL during the 2016-17 season, when he was just 17 years old, and he’s played in 178 games over portions of six seasons there in the years since. This last year was easily his most successful, however: After being limited to just 45 games in the US-based minors in 2022, he returned to Perth and played in 38 games there, batting .360 with a .440 on-base percentage and .626 slugging. Hall outhit teammates and former major leagues Pete Kozma and Josh Reddick on his way to winning the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

The ABL are excited to announce that the 2022-23 Helms award winner is @PerthHeat, Alex Hall.
Alex had an incredible season, both offensively and defensively. His power and precision equally matched his efforts behind the plate with the bat. pic.twitter.com/5PvQUjLdg8

— Australian Baseball League (@ABL) February 24, 2023

“I think the key to my success was probably just playing a bit more. I got my opportunities, obviously the opportunities come when you’re playing well, so just sticking to what I’ve learned and having fun, especially at home, was a key,” Hall said. “There’s a lot of stress playing in the minor leagues, I would say. You try not to make that a big factor, but back at home I was stress-free, I was having fun, and my manager Andy Kyle was great for me.”

It’s a tight-knit baseball community in Western Australia, so Hall and Perth manager Andy Kyle have known each other for a long time. Kyle first met Hall as an assistant in the State Junior Programs and High-Performance Pathways Program before Hall even reached his teenage years, and started coaching him when he was in his late teens. Given that long track record, he was able to identify a lot of factors leading to Hall’s breakout winter.

“During the past ABL season Alex showed a massive improvement in his mental game,” Kyle said via email. “He was able to stay more consistent and not let results of games or AB's bother him. Alex is a fierce competitor and expects a lot of himself. Being able to control his emotions allowed him to be more consistent during and between games.”

Hall also cited a change in the mental aspect of his game as one of the biggest differences he sees in himself in the last 12 months.

“I guess I would say I’m more mentally strong. If I strike out at bat, I’m not going to be in the dugout sitting on the bench, having a little cry,” Hall said. “I’m like ‘all right, let’s go. It’s a wash now, when I go up for the next at bat let’s do something to help the team.’”

Kyle also noted the value of getting Hall more consistent at-bats, adjustments to his routine, preparation for games and approach at the plate and strides he’s made in handling a pitching staff and controlling the running game.

All told, Hall is one of seven 2023 Timber Rattlers who played in Australia last winter. Catcher Darrien Miller, infielder Robert Moore and pitchers Brannon Jordan, Justin King, Max Lazar and Cameron Wagoner all played for the Brisbane team managed by former Brewer Dave Nilsson. That team went 30-10 and won the ABL’s Northeast Division by ten games. Hall said it’s fun to get to play fellow Brewers minor leaguers in his home country.

“When you go to play them that week it’s exciting, because you’re playing some buddies of yours that you know pretty well from over in the States, that you’ve played on some teams with. But it’s all exciting and it’s all competitive as well, because the Australian Baseball League is very competitive and it’s a serious league, so that’s fun,” Hall said.

Hall’s success in the ABL led to an even greater opportunity: His first chance to play with the Australian national team in the World Baseball Classic. Australia played in Pool B in Tokyo and took second place, knocking off expected contenders Korea in their first game of the tournament. They finished second in their pool and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Cuba by one run.

Hall played in all five games for Australia in the tournament, where his five hits included a double, triple and two home runs. He had a Topps Now card made in his honor after hitting a triple, a home run and driving in four runs in a win over the Czech Republic. He described the tournament experience as “amazing” and “unforgettable.”

“The best tournament I’ve ever played in,” Hall said. “It was my first actual senior men’s team for Australia that I was selected in. I was grateful that a couple of guys from Western Australia, my state, got to go with me. I know most of the guys on the Australia team but getting to finally bond with them with a two-week camp before the tournament was amazing, I got to know them a little more. Because the Australian Baseball League is so competitive, you want to win, but when we came together and put our minds to the job we were an unbelievable team. We conquered things that have never happened in Australian history before.”

"It's history for us."

Alex Hall on what it means for @TeamAusBaseball to make the quarterfinals of the #WorldBaseballClassic for the first time.@WBCBaseball | @StephenNelson | @JoseMota05 pic.twitter.com/dS7WUb6AXO

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 13, 2023

The Aussies were not one of the favorites to advance from a pool they shared with Japan and Korea. While their success might have qualified as an upset, Hall said he was not surprised by it.

“I guess we’re never surprised, we always want to achieve more and show the world we can play, and we did this year, which was amazing. Beating Korea in Game 1 was huge for our tournament play, and it was amazing. Playing in front of 40,000 fans in a packed Tokyo Dome every game was amazing,” Hall said.

A few days after Australia’s tournament-ending loss to Cuba, however, Hall was back to business on the back fields of American Family Fields of Phoenix resuming preparations for the 2023 season.

“Yeah, I would say it’s not as exciting,” Hall said. “I guess the first day back, seeing all the guys back on the complex is always fun, but then heading back to Field 7 and playing intrasquad games is not as exciting. I guess there was no nerves my first day, I’ve just been playing in front of so many people and on television, so it was really relaxing I guess, but nothing can compete with the WBC.”

The lights may not be as bright and the crowds are a little smaller, but Hall has been one of the Timber Rattlers’ best hitters this spring. Through Wisconsin’s first 26 games he leads the team in home runs (5) and slugging percentage (.467), and he’s experienced that success while making a significant change on the other side of the game. Hall had played just a handful of professional games in the outfield and had never done it in the US before being penciled into a lineup in left field this spring. He’s since played out there six times, and in that limited opportunity he’s thrown out two runners on the bases.

“Honestly it’s not too much different,” Hall said. “I go do infield/outfield, make a few throws. It’s less scouting you have to do, because when you’re catching you have to do reports on every hitter, what the heat maps are and try to get a good idea of what you and your pitcher want to work with. But the outfield’s fun, I’m out there just making good alignments, lining up straight, if it’s a shade, or a shade the other way. But it’s fun.”

Twice is nice 💣 💣 Two homers in the same game for Alex Hall 💪 pic.twitter.com/ni5Vr3fH3v

— Team Australia (@TeamAusBaseball) April 18, 2023

Meanwhile on the other side of the world, Kyle is following closely. He said he checks the box scores for Alex and other Australian players every day and reaches out from time to time to check in on them. Hall’s success in the US is a big deal for fans and young players back at home, and the experience he’s gaining may lead to future success in the ABL.

“It is really important for guys like Alex to have success in the US,” Kyle said. “It gives our kids a positive role model and shows a pathway that is achievable. On our end in the ABL it gives these guys critical AB's and context in meaningful games that we can't replicate in Australia.”