Juslan Kamara’s major league contract could be a sign of things to come

Back in May 2013, the Philadelphia Phillies made an interesting signing to acquire the services of Julsan Kamara. The 17-year-old German player was given a chance to train with the big boys at the Phillies’ minor league system once he graduates high school in 2014. Yeah, the guy hasn’t even graduated from high school and he already has a seven-year minor league contract.

Not much is known about Kamara other than what assistant GM Benny Looper referred to as “good tools” in his arsenal.  According to Looper, the kid has athleticism and potential power on his side but he still needs to be taught how to play the game.
There have been a great number of German players who successfully crossed over to the US to play in the top leagues.  There’s Dirk Nowitzki, of course, and no one can count out Detlef Schrempf when it comes to the discussion about German basketball players. Heck, we could even count German-born Shawn Bradley, who was drafted by the 76ers way back in 1993, in that list.  In hockey, we have Dennis Seidenberg; as well as four German players currently playing in the NFL.

Lately, however, it seems that Germany is setting its sights on a different target: conquering the world of poker. The game has definitely grown into one of the most popular spectator sports in the world, thanks to the 2003 poker boom.  A great number of amateurs, who cut their teeth online, broke into major poker tournaments thanks to Chris Moneymaker’s historic win.

Among them was the new breed of German poker players. Players like Pius Heinz, who won $8.7 million at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event, and Tobias Reinkemeier, who cashed $1.3 million at the 2013 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. Team PartyPoker’s Marvin Rettenmaier has also made a name for himself by having the distinction of being the first ever poker player in history to win back-to-back World Poker Tour titles.  There’s also Niklas Heinecker, who cleared the 2013 GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions Main Event table of all opposition to win a first-place payout of $4.4 million.

Incidentally, these four are in the list of top money winners in Germany. Heinz sits atop, with Reinkemeier and Heinecker following in second and third place, respectively.

With more and more quality athletes coming out of Germany, it might be time to start paying attention to the country’s athletic output.  It will likely take years before we hear more about Kamara and what impact he may have on Phillies baseball, but this might just be the start of a new influx of German players sliding into the US professional sporting scene.

Tags: Benny Looper, Juslan Kamara, Phillies, World Series of Poker