Sporting Star Visits College

Justin Huber plays catcher for Ellen J after speaking to the Year 9s.

Major league baseballer and alumnus Justin Huber shared his sporting experiences with Middle School and Year 9 students when he visited the College’s Pakenham Campus this week.

He also encouraged students to pursue their language studies, saying it was “definitely not time wasted”.

Justin’s baseball career has skyrocketed since he graduated from Beaconhills College in 2000.

After starting with the New York Mets, he played his first major league game in 2005, followed by five years at various clubs including Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and Minnesota Twins. He has hit 140 home runs in his career to date.

This year he was able to put his Years 7 and 8 Japanese language skills to use when he joined the Toyo Hiroshima Carp to play in the Japan Baseball League.

He said baseball was incredibly popular in Japan, with all major ballparks packed with up to 50,000 spectators for every game.

But Justin said there were times when he wished he had continued with Japanese through to Year 12, never realising how much he might need it in the future.

“I never thought I would be standing in front of 50,000 people trying to argue with the umpire (in Japanese),” he said.

Justin hopes to continue to play baseball at the top level as long as possible, whether it be in Japan, Korea or back in the USA.

He is back in Australia during his off season to help launch the Melbourne Aces as part of the inaugural Australian Baseball League.

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