Mister Baseball

by Pim van Nes

Italian pitcher Alessandro Maestri (23) was the first European player this year to perform in an All Star Game in American professional baseball. The Cesena born player of the Daytona Cubs was selected for the Florida State League and pitched the eighth inning for the East All Stars trailing 8-3. Maestri worked successfully striking out two western batters and avoiding further damage. However, the West All Stars, having taken the lead in the game as from the top of the first inning, won the game 9-3.

Netherlands pitcher Loek van Mil (also 23) was the second, as in the sixth inning of the Mid West All Star Game he took over the mound for the West All Stars, after East in the fifth had scored the fourth tying run: 4-4. Although Van Mil conceded one hit, he managed to conserve the score striking out one. In the tenth inning Van Mil turned out to belong to the winning West team, when after four scoreless innings West scored the decisive 5-4. Loek van Mil was born in Oss between Eindhoven and Amsterdam, signed by Minnesota Twins in 2005 and selected by manager Robert Eenhoorn for the Olympic Games in August. So far Van Mil kept his ERA at 2.59 during 31.1 innings as a reliever in 20 Beloit Snappers games

In the same All Star Game in the Dow Diamond Stadium of Midland, Michigan, another Dutch national replaced the starting catcher for the East All Stars in the same sixth inning as Van Mil. Twenty years old Kenley Jansen, signed on Curacao by Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004 and this year playing for Great Lakes Loones, took his mask and shared the defense at the 4-4 score in his biggest game so far. At bat he reached base once by a walk, but his team mates could not bring him further than to second base. In his 40 Single A games Jansen collected a batting average of .213 and a slugging of .417 thanks to five doubles and seven homeruns. Also Jansen has been shortlisted by Eenhoorn as a potential substitute for Amsterdam catcher Sidney de Jong, nr 1 candidate for position 2 in the Olympic team of the Netherlands.

Robert Eenhoorn (40) has been invited by Major League Baseball as a special guest for the last Major League All Star Game in the old Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY. The stadium was his first home during his infielder career on the world top level in the nineties. One day earlier Eenhoorn will meet again Davey Johnson, manager of the USA Olympic Team playing the Futures Game versus the World Team, a selection of the best foreign Minor League players in the States. Last year two of Eenhoorn’s favorites played an important role in the World Team: first and winning pitcher Rick van den Hurk and nine-innings lasting outfielder Wladimir Balentien. This year he will find a friend with Team USA, as Johnson was a coach for the Netherlands national team and even replaced Eenhoorn as the team’s manager during Eenhoorn’s absence for family reasons.

Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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