Lefebvre proud to see team progress

Before coming to China to manage the country's national baseball team in 2003, Jim Lefebvre was in his third year as a minor league batting coach for the San Diego Padres.

After reconnecting with some of the Padres he used to train during a workout session ahead of last weekend's landmark Major League Baseball China Series at Wukesong Baseball Field, he told his new players to model themselves after his old ones.

"Put your chest out, man, I want to read 'China' on your shirts," Lefebvre yelled to his Chinese players, with whom he has been training hard over the past five years.

"Great players walking with a little bit of air - that's what I want my players to be like," the former MLB All Star and manager said.

Since taking the post as China's manager, the 66-year-old has been trying to lift the squad to the next level by exposing his players to the big leagues. He tells them to watch video clips of star MLB players as much as possible and takes them to the US for a couple months each year to spend time with minor league teams.

Lefebvre is happy to see his efforts pay off as the squad continues to make progress.

"Now these kids have a lot of energy, a lot of passion for the game, as much as you seen in our country.

"We've improved dramatically. If you would have seen us five years ago compared to today ... We've still got a long way to go. But we've come a long, long way."

Lefebvre believes he has turned some of these baseball nobodies into potential MLB players.

"These are not college-level players - they're above that," he asserted. "They are professional-level players right now. Collectively, we might struggle, but we have players on our team right now who are high A, Double-A and possibly Triple-A. We have some guys who, in the right situation, could make it to the big leagues."

There are currently four Chinese players in the US under minor league contracts - Wang Wei and Jia Yubing with the Seattle Mariners and Liu Kai and Zhang Zhenwang with the New York Yankees.

The Chinese team has made a splash in international play with Lefebvre at the helm, defeating Asian powerhouse South Korea, European champion the Netherlands and scoring eight runs in a World Cup game against world champion Cuba.

"These kids are very smart, they're very bright and they have great intuitiveness," Lefebvre said. "They retain it. They have an endless work ethic. What more can you ask for? They can see now what they need to do to be successful."

The manager hopes his team drew some more inspiration by watching some the MLB players last weekend. He asked Chinese baseball officials to give his players a rare break from spring training so all of them could watch the MLB games in person.

"I want them to get the real feeling of the spirit of being a major league player," he said.

The players did as their manager asked, sitting in the stands like ordinary fans with their families, cameras in hand.

"It's mind-blowing to watch baseball at such a high level," said team captain Zhang Yufeng. "It made us realize how much we need to learn."

"It makes me eager to come back to MLB," said Zhang's teammate Wang Chao, a Beijing native who was signed by the Mariners as a pitcher when he was 16, but returned to China after several unsuccessful years.

"I believe I will be there someday. I am still very hopeful."

(China Daily 03/19/2008 page23)