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Brett Nicholas Roneberg
Bats Left -- Throws Left
Height 6' 2" -- Weight 216 lb
High School -- Smithfield State High School
Born 5th February 1979 in Sandringham, Victoria

Biographical Information

Infielder-Outfielder Brett Roneberg began his pro-career in the Florida Marlins organization in 1996 as an undrafted free agent
He hit .213/~.259/.276 as a part-time first baseman for the Gulf Coast League Marlins that year

In 1997, Brett returned and batted .265/~.362/.346 and led first basemen in the Gulf Coast League in putouts (481), assists (29, tied for the lead) and fielding percentage (.994)

At age nineteen, Brett batted .271/~.340/.338 for the Kane County Cougars but missed the second half of the season due to a back injury

He returned to Kane County in 1999 and produced at a .288/~.383/.413 with 79 walks (fifth in the Midwest League)

Moving up to the 2000 Brevard County Manatees, Roneberg hit .261/.368/.324 with only 2 homers in 445 at bats
He was 5th in the Florida State League with 77 walks

He represented Australia in the 2000 Olympics, getting to play in and for his native country on leave from the Marlins

In 2001, Roneberg hit .299/.388/.483 for the Manatees and .262/.335/.421 for the Portland Sea Dogs, starting a long run at the "AA" level
He homered 16 times on the year and was sixth in the Florida State League in average and 4th in slugging at age twenty two

In the 2001 Baseball World Cup, Roneberg hit .240/.345/.240 as Australia's starting right fielder

In 2002, Brett injured his hand
He got into sixteen rehabilitation games with the Jupiter Hammerheads, hitting only .211/.297/.263
On June 19th, he got promoted to the "AAA" Calgary Cannons and went 2 for 5 at the plate in three games as the team's second youngest player
On June 25th, he was traded to the Montreal Expos in exchange for Donnie Bridges
Assigned to the Harrisburg Senators, he would hit at a .294/.374/.439 clip the rest of the year

Let go by Montreal, Brett signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates system

At age twenty four, he batted .281/.338/.426 for the Altoona Curve

Back in Australia, he won the Helms Award as 'Most Valuable Player' of the Claxton Shield, the National Competition

In 2004, he switched to his fourth franchise in three years when he signed with the Boston Red Sox
He put up a .278/.360/.462 back with the Portland Sea Dogs, cranking out 30 doubles and 17 homers and driving in 77

He again took time off to play for the Australian Olympic Team
They finished as the Silver Medalists, ahead of powers like Japan and Canada (the USA hadn't even qualified for the Olympics)
Roneberg was the Team's Offensive Star with a .361 average, 7 RBI in 7 games and 3 homers
He slugged .639 and had an OBP around .425) and tied Kosuke Fukudome, Yurendell DeCaster and Yoshinobu Takahashi for the Olympic lead in homers
In the semifinals, Roneberg scored the only run against Daisuke Matsuzaka, singling in the sixth and coming around on a hit by Brendan Kingman
Roneberg singled in the ninth inning of the Gold Meal Game against Cuba to put two Australians on base with none out as the potential winning run in a 2-1 contest, but Danny Betancourt retired Dave Nilsson, Jeff Williams and Kingman to end the game

He also played in the "AA" All-Star Game that year

That winter, he injured his left shoulder making a diving catch in right field for the Leones del Caracas in the Venezuelan League, tearing his rotator cuff and needing surgery
He was hitting .231/.351/.385 at the time
The Red Sox released him and he missed the entire 2005 season

He did play in the 2005 Baseball World Cup, batting .233/.343/.400 for Australia and leading the team with 7 runs

Roneberg continued to be a mainstay of Australia in international events such as the Baseball World Cup, Olympics, etc. and played for them in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006
He was 0 for 5 with a walk, 3 strikeouts and an RBI in three games for the Aussies in the WBC as the main right fielder

Back with Pittsburgh and Altoona in 2006, he missed two and a half weeks due to back problems but recovered well
He hit .303/.379/.430 with 9 steals in 10 tries as the Curve's cleanup hitter and was named the team's 'Most Valuable Player'

He went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI in the Eastern League All-Star Game and was named the game's 'Most Valuable Player'
He was second to Michel Abreu in average in the Eastern League, right ahead of another Aussie, Trent Oeltjen
He failed to make the League All-Star team as Adam Lind, Kory Casto and Vic Buttler were the three outfielders chosen

Back in Altoona for 2007, Roneberg was hitting .227/.320/.373 through May 18th before going on the Disabled List
He recovered a bit to bat .248/.342/.416, a far cry from his 2006 performance

Roneberg then batted .231/.355/.346 as Australia's main first baseman in the 2007 Baseball World Cup
He was thrown out at home in a critical play in a 3-2 loss to the Cuban National Team
Roneberg even was called on to pitch during a record-setting 26-1 rout of the Thai National Team
He allowed no hits or walks in the 7th inning and struck out one in relief of another position player, Gavin Fingleson

Roneberg was 1 for 9 with a 3-run double, a walk and two runs for Australia in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament as a Designated Hitter
The three-run double came against Jamie Richmond in a 10-5 win over Team Canada
It was Canada's only loss of the tournament and Australia's only win against a serious contender
Australia failed to make it to the 2008 Olympics

Roneberg was on the Australian Roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic
He was Australia's top hitter in the Classic, going 5 for 7 with a double, homer, 3 runs and a RBI
He led Australia in all the offensive rate statistics, beating out major leaguers Chris Snelling, Justin Huber and Brad Harman
Roneberg's solo homer off Jorge Campillo was the lone Australian run in their 16-1 loss to Mexico which eliminated them from the event

Brett Roneberg (born 5th February 1979 in Sandringham, Victoria) is an Australian baseball player

He spent eleven seasons playing Minor League Baseball, most recently in 2007 was with the Pittsburgh Pirates organisation, playing for their Double-A affiliate, the Altoona Curve

In 2004, he was part of the Australian Olympic Baseball Team, who achieved a Silver Medal in the Baseball Tournament at the Athens Olympics
He had also represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics

In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Roneberg led the tournament in batting average (.714), slugging percentage (1.286) and on-base plus slugging (2.036)

Baseball Retirement
After he had retired from playing professional baseball, he began playing in a small baseball league in Cairns called CBL (Cairns Baseball League) as a Breakthrough Bandits Player