Mister Baseball

by Pim van Nes

With three Triple A players and one from Single A Advanced the national team of the Netherlands is ready to represent Europe in the last Olympic tournament before the 2012 ban for the Games in London. That year happens to be the first century celebration for the Netherlands federation KNBSB, founded in 1912 as the first national baseball organization ever in Europe. Since the start of the European baseball federation over 40 years later, the geographically small country has grown big in baseball by winning 20 continental championships up to now, exceeding the eight titles conquered up to 1997 by the second baseball country at average and present number seven Italy.

The four pro players arrived in Seoul for preparations with the national team are Futures Game closer Shairon Martis, pitcher for Columbus Clippers, Yurendell de Caster as infielder for Columbus Clippers, Sharnol Adriana as infielder for Vera Cruz and Alexander Smit as pitcher for Sarasota Reds. The fifth pro player available for the national team in Beijing was pitcher Loek van Mil (Beloit Snappers) had to leave the team there because of an injury. He was replaced by Hoofddorp Pioniers pitcher Dave Draijer, being the seventh regular pitcher from Hoofdklasse, the Netherlands major league. Most experienced pitcher in this category is Rob Cordemans, who is about to start his fourth Olympic Games since 1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens. In Hoofdklasse Cordemans is ERA leader defending for his club Sparta/Feyenoord in Rotterdam with 0.69 and a win-loss record of 6-0.

Outside the Olympic Games the Netherlands has four players presently playing in the Major Leagues: pitchers Jair Jurrjens for Atlanta Braves and Sidney Ponson for New York Yankees and outfielders Andruw Jones for Los Angeles Dodgers and Wladimir Balentien for Seattle Mariners. For this very same reason there were to stay with their American clubs as useful elements on top level. Balentien came back with the Mariners on August 5 and in his five games he reached five hits including a homerun. On August 5 Jones came back with his first homerun since an injury, being his 371st homerun in his 1835 Major League games. On August 6 Ponson won his seventh game of the season and his 89th of his 275 games career. Alike Balentien also Jurrjens is playing his second season on the Major League level, but on August 9 he won his eleventh game in his 23rd game all started this year. Pitcher Rick van den Hurk appeared twice in short periods for the Florida Marlins and nowadays plays Triple A games for Albuquerque Isotopes.

In 2007 performing for the national team in Barcelona and Taiwan, but presently unavailable for the Olympic lineup are Double A infielder Hainley Statia for the Los Angeles Angels (injured) and outfielders Roger Bernadina and Gregory Halman, each grown up in Hoofdklasse in the Netherlands. Bernadina has reached a batting average of .337 and a slugging of .486 combined on Double A and Triple A. This year he debuted on Major League level for Washington Nationals, being the 6th Hoofdklasse player having made the struggle through the Minor Leagues to the top, since as a player of Sparta/Feyenoord in Rotterdam Bernadina signed a professional contract. As such he succeeded to Win Remmerswaal (Boston Red Sox), Rikkert Faneyte (San Francisco Giants), Robert Eenhoorn (New York Yankees), Ralph Milliard (Cincinnati Reds) and Rick van den Hurk (Florida Marlins). Since Wassenaar and Storks pitcher Remmerswaal was signed by the Red Sox in 1975 another 36 Hoofdklasse players were good enough according to Major League scouts to be offered a professional contract

On August 8 Bernadina went two-for-three and on August 9 even three-for-five, a few days before he hit his eighth homerun for the Columbus Clippers. He also has 37 stolen bases. Gregory Halman as a player for West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (Double A) reached a batting average in his last ten games of .303 with ten hits including a homerun. The former Kinheim player went two-for-five and one-for-four during last two night games. Last year infielder Dwayne Kemp still played Hoofdklasse games for his club Sparta/Feyenoord in Rotterdam, but this year he was already promoted to Chicago Cubs Single A farm Boise Hawks, where he batted for an average of .250 including a homerun. Kemp is part of a 43 troop’s Dutch legion in American pro baseball comprising four in the Major Leagues, five in Triple A, two in Double A, seven in Single A, twelve in Rookie Leagues, eleven in Summer Leagues and two in Independent Leagues. The frequency of new arrivals has been accelerating especially since about 15 years, reacting on the successes of the Andruw Jones’s and Robert Eenhoorns.

Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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