by Pim van Nes
Among the best Dutch players in regular season of Hoofdklasse, several foreign players from other EU countries have done well this year, as they did so in previous years in the continent of open internal frontiers. Behind best pitcher Rob Cordemans of Sparta/Feyenoord and best hitter Mark Duursma of Konica Minolta Pioniers, we find Czech pitcher Jan Rehacek with the sixth best ERA and Czech hitter Jakub Malik with the twelfth best batting average in regular season. Rehacek played for the Pioniers during the regular season and the postseason and Malik helped MediaMonks RCH to secure a spot in the Hoofdklasse next year. Other European countries represented in the Netherlands major league were Sweden with Nicolas Mehlin, Poland with Marek Deska, Belgium with Benjamin Dille, Great Britain with Alex Smith, Spain with Oscar Monteiro and Romania with Mihai Burlea. In previous seasons also players from France, Italy and Croatia performed well in Hoofdklasse.
The best pitcher in various individual rankings was Rob Cordemans. He came to Sparta/Feyenoord in Rotterdam this year after two seasons with ADO in The Hague. Recently he was contacted by three Italian clubs for a starting position on the mounds of Montepaschi Grosseto, Telemarket Rimini and double champion T&A San Marino. However, today Rob Cordemans and his club president Koos van der Mark informed their fans through Rotterdams Dagblad that next year they will stay together with Sparta/Feyenoord. Cordemans is the second Dutch top pitcher since David Bergman turning down Italian offers for the first season with players from EU countries. For the Italian clubs this is supposed to be a big loss, as Cordemans was first in ERA: 0.86, first in losses: 0 in 15 games and 94 innings, first in opponent batting average: .162, first in base runners allowed per nine innings: 6.58 and first in strikeouts compared to walks: 7.00. He also totalized 112 strikeouts, nine wins in 15 starts and one shutout, ranking first in all categories and second in strikeouts per nine9 innings: 10.69.
In the ERA ranking Cordemans is followed by Kinheim pitchers David Bergman (1.42) and Nick Veltkamp (1.99) and Neptunus pitchers Kevin Heijstek (1.48) and Leon Boyd (1.64). Remarkable performances on Dutch mounds were delivered by the Czech Jan Rehacek (sixth with 2.04) and the Romanian Mihai Burlea (eighth with 2.23 for RCH). Other well-ranked EU-foreigners were Monteiro (2.83) and Alex Smith (3.79). Cordemans was especially had a big lead in the strikeout department: 112 compared with number two Boyd for Neptunus with 86 and three pitchers with 68 each. Same applies to his 7.00 strikeouts per walk ratio compared with number two Roger Kops with 4.89 for Pioniers, Boyd with 3.74 and Patrick Beljaards with 3.00 for Kinheim. Due to an injury in the early parts of the season Cordemans ranked only fourth in number of wins (9-0), behind Beljaards (11-0), Boyd and Kenny Berkenbosch (10-2). Cordemans was not challenged in his first positions in base runners per nine innings (6.58) and opposing batting average (.162). In the first category Boyd, Bergman, Beljaards and Heijstek followed with averages between 8.97 and 10.21 and in the second Bergman and Burlea were behind with .199 and in tenth position Rehacek with .235.
The offensive statistics were not as dominated by one player in comparison to the pitching stats. In batting average Pioniers catcher Mark Duursma was the winner with .387, before Sidney de Jong (.360), Martijn Meeuwis (.354), Glenn Romney (.354) and Bas de Jong (.333). In slugging percentage Duursma (.510) was behind only Sidney de Jong (.581), Eugene Kingsale (.522), Bas de Jong (.519) and Jourick Blanco (.511). Blanco and Sidney de Jong were first in homeruns with each six, followed by five for Bryan Engelhardt, Fausto Alvarez and Eugene Kingsale and by four from Wesley Connor and Bas de Jong. Bas de Jong hit the most doubles with 15 and also drove in the most runs with 42, Sidney de Jong scored the most runs: 38 and the most triples were hit by Shaldimar Daantji of Sparta/Feyenoord: four. The best records in base stealing were for Jermaine Esprit of HCAW (18-21), Czech Peter Baroch of RCH (15-17), Roel Koolen (13-14), Shaldimar Daantji (12-13) and Jakub Malik (10-13).
Mister Baseball thanks Jan van der Sande for his record keeping all season long.
Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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