| Mitchell Nilsson | |
|---|---|
| Brisbane Bandits — No. 18 | |
| Catcher | |
| Born: 24 May 1991 Brisbane, Australia |
|
| Bats: Switch | Throws: Right |
| Professional debut | |
| ABL: 13 November, 2010 for the Brisbane Bandits | |
| ABL statistics (through 2011) |
|
| Batting average | .176 |
| Home runs | 2 |
| Runs batted in | 5 |
Mitchell Caine Nilsson (born 24 May 1991) is an Australian baseball player who plays catcher and is currently with the Brisbane Bandits and the Cleveland Indians organisation.[1][2] He is the son of Gary Nilsson, cousin of Jay Nilsson and nephew of Bob Nilsson and former All-Star, Dave Nilsson.
He has played with the Australia schoolboy team,[3] Australia AAA team, AA team twice[4] and single A (Cal Ripken team).[5] Nilsson made his debut for the Queensland Rams as a catcher in the 2010 Claxton Shield.
Nilsson has not yet played for the Indians organisation since being signed in 2009, but has played in the MLBAAP for five consecutive years, recently averaging .262 for the 2010 season.[6] He also won the 2010 Greater Brisbane League's Pacific League batting average (.389) and RBI (33) awards.
Mitchell made his debut on 13 November 2010 for the Brisbane Bandits in the inaugural Australian Baseball League season. Although he was the backup catcher, he saw regular game time with the injury of Joel Naughton early in the season. Nilsson averaged .176 in his first season for the Bandits, occasionally playing middle infield. In his final game, Nilsson hit his first and only two home-runs of the season.[7]