Harry Brook is set to swap 'Bazball' for baseball, with the England cricketer set to join up with Major League Baseball (MLB) side St Louis Cardinals as they take part in spring training in Florida.
Brook has enjoyed a stunning start to his Test career, smashing 809 runs at an average of 80.90 in six games. The 24-year-old has struck four hundreds and three half-centuries, having thrived playing the new positive and aggressive style of cricket encouraged by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum that has become known as 'Bazball'.
And Brook has now flown out to America to join up with the Cardinals and attempt smashing home runs instead of sixes. The move comes after Brook signed up as a European ambassador for MLB, along with England women's star Issy Wong.
As a result of the new partnership Brook will sport an MLB logo on his bat in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he will earn £1.3m playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Wong will also have the logo on her bat when she plays for Mumbai Indians in the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL)
"I'm really excited for this partnership and can't wait to try my hand at hitting some home runs," he said. "I'm intrigued to see how different it is to cricket and what similarities there are too - will a home run feel as good as hitting a six?
"I'm also excited to learn from how other professional sportspeople go about their game and see if there are any transferable skills between batting in baseball and cricket.
"It's going to be amazing to see baseball first hand in the US and help spread the word back in the UK and hopefully help build baseball's fan base here."
Brook's trip to America will only be a brief one as he films some promotional content with the Cardinals. Having starred in England's recent Test tour of New Zealand, Brook is set to enjoy some rest ahead of the IPL and the Ashes.
Unlike fellow Test star Ben Duckett, Brook will not join up with the white-ball squad in Bangladesh for the T20 leg of the tour and he has also withdrawn from a stint in the Pakistan Super League where he was set to play for Lahore Qalandars.
