Warner mulls US baseball trial?

Explosive Australian opener David Warner is mulling a baseball trial in the United States where successful hitters can earn millions of dollars a year, a report said on Tuesday.

Warner's manager Tony Connelly told the Sydney Daily Telegraph all options were being considered for a player who has plundered the English bowling in the ongoing Ashes series.

"Dave and I have spoken about it -- it would be interesting to see how he goes," Connelly said of a baseball trial.

"A pitch over the plate is a full toss right in his range but once they start throwing curves, it's a bit different.

"We talked about setting up a trial in the States and getting him in a batting cage just to have a look.

"It was more a fun thing to see how he goes. Right now he's in the middle of an Ashes series and that's his total focus."

Warner's red-hot form in the Ashes series could make him a US$5 million a year player, Connelly said, but this would be nothing to what he could command as a top baseball star, AFP reported.

The left-hander is expected to attract a US$2 million deal at next month's Indian Premier League auction on top of his Cricket Australia contract and ever-increasing endorsements.

In baseball, America's best batters can earn as much as US$20 million a season and the Telegraph said the big-hitting Warner had attracted the attention of baseball scouts.

It said baseball officials recently considered approaching him to play in an All Stars team when the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks play at the Sydney Cricket Ground in late March.

But a check of Australia's cricket itinerary revealed he will be in South Africa and then Bangladesh when the baseball is in Sydney.

"We threw his name around in our internal discussions," the Major League game promoter Justin Moore told the newspaper.

"I've had people asking me about Dave Warner from bizarre corners of the planet. Out of all the cricketers, he's probably the one who could convert because of his eye and his power, plus his fielding is good enough.

"If he was any good at baseball, he could double or triple what he earns from cricket." 

Photograph: Matt King/Getty Images