The Dortmund Wanderers have announced the successor for Jens Hawlitzky. The 27-year-old Matt Kemp takes over as head coach for the German Baseball-Bundesliga club. He came to Germany in 2008. Hawlitzky had left the team for northern-division rival HSV Stealers. Kemp is going to continue to be Dortmund’s foreign starting pitcher in game two each week.
The club also revealed that they will do a little bit of rebuilding after losing two main sponsors and left-handed pitcher Rene Herlitzius during the winter. Kemp still hopes to lead the Wanderers into the playoffs for a third straight year. In 2009 they had a 15-9 record during the regular season, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe.
The announcement from the Wanderers website:
The Dortmund Wanderers are thrilled to announce that former Northern League pitcher Matt Kemp has taken over as Head Coach for the 2010 season. The 27 year old Kemp pitched 2 seasons with the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, Edmonton Crackercats, and Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Independent Northern League before joining the Wanderers in 2008.
In two full seasons pitching for the Wanderers, Kemp amassed a 3.29 ERA in 161.1 IP while striking out 167. He also, during that time, served as the pitching coach of the Wanderers and in 2009 he took over duties as the Head Coach of Dortmund’s second team. The past winter Kemp played in South Africa and is currently playing in Australia while also serving as pitching coach for his respective clubs the Blaauwberg Cardinals (South Africa) and the Fitzroy Lions (Australia).
Photo: © Gregor Eisenhuth www.eisenhuth-photographie.de
