by Ty Eriksen
After taking a week to focus on the European Championship (a tip of the cap to winner Italy), here is how your favorite EU players fared in the two weeks since the last update. Van den Hurk gets shot at the bigs after being traded to the Orioles.
Belgium
Thomas De Wolf (DSL Mets) Found his way on base often over the past two weeks, keeping his On Base Percentage up (.368), but rarely through the stroke of the bat: his average falls to .217 on the season. Still, his progression on the season has seen him increase walks and reduce strikeouts, now he hopes to regain the power he showed pre-all star break.
Czech Republic
Matej Hejma (GCL Twins) Took the field three times over the past two weeks, posting an impressive 3-4, 2B, 2 R, 1 BB line against the Orioles. Now swinging at a .238 pace, but just 2 RBI’s to his credit in 14 games.
France
Frederic Hanvi (GCL Twins) Five hits since the last update have raised his average to .163, and he hopes to continue his improvement from June (.222, 5 RBI, 5 R, in 11 games) into August.
Germany
Kai Gronauer (Port St. Lucie Mets) We last saw Kai coming off a 6 game hitting streak, but now for the bad news: spent the last two weeks on the DL. Was supposed to make his return over the weekend, yet was kept on the DL. Mets could use his bat (.308, 1, 9) and ability behind the plate as they try to right the ship after losing 10 of 11.
Donald Lutz (Billings Mustangs) The zeroes he has been putting up would be great, if he were a pitcher. Average has dipped to .255, but nobody said it would be easy maintaining his impressive numbers from the beginning of the season. Don’t be surprised to see Lutz finish the way he started, back at a .333 average with a slugging percentage north of .600.
Max Kepler-Rozycki (GCL Twins) Splitting time in left field, the lefty continues to plot along. Although he’s hitting just .250 on the season, his home splits are much more positive (.333 with just 5 K’s in 12 games).
Jennell Hudson (GCL Red Sox) Still out and recovering from elbow surgery, likely to miss the entire 2010 campaign.
Italy
Alex Liddi (West Tenn Diamond Jaxx) Average at .269, 12 home runs, and 74 RBI in 102 games. Liddi might be ready to see some time at the next level (AAA). With the Mariners struggling, it wouldn’t be to hard to imagine him being tried at Tacoma before the end of August.
Alessandro Maestri (Daytona Cubs) Ran his record to 2-1 out of the bullpen, seeing four trips in the last two weeks, and lowered his ERA to 3.00 in large part due to a WHIP below one, and a K/IP exactly at one.
Luca Martone (GCL Astros) Had a decent two weeks, picking up two RBI’s and two runs in one game. Now hitting .115
Luca Panerati (Dayton Dragons) Off the DL! Unfortunately having to start the season three months late and down a level, Luca made it to the mound for the first time this past week and did outstanding. In his first game, he threw one inning in which he gave up no hits and sat down two on strikes. In game two he went two innings with similar results, no hits and three strikeouts.
Andrea Lucati (GCL Astros) Hasn’t been back on the mound since two rough outings in mid-July.
Andrea Pizziconi (Yakima Bears): Turns out that his stint as starter wasn’t the real deal. Despite his good showing (3 GS, 10 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 7 K) in the rotation, he was moved back to relief. In three appearances over two weeks, Andrea gave up one run in 7 innings, a solo home run.
Lithuania
Dovydas Neverauskas (GCL Pirates) Back in the pen (injury?), and had two relief appearances in the last week. Allowed a single over a combined three innings, a pretty good job considering more than three weeks off the field.
Netherlands
Gregory Halman (Tacoma Rainiers) Can you call it a disappointment when you hit only two homeruns in a 10 game stretch? Halman might, but he actually raised his average to .253 over the past two weeks. Now to do something about those 22 strikeouts in 37 at bats over the same time period…
Rick van den Hurk (Norfolk Tides) New hat, new park, same result (Win, 7 IP, 4 H, 4 K, 1 ER); Van den Hurk takes his business to the Norfolk Tides of the International League, after a straight up trade for Will Ohman (goes from Baltimore to Florida). In the words of Dan Connolly with the Baltimore Sun, “(the) 25-year-old from the Netherlands …likely will be promoted to Baltimore later this season.”
Loek van Mil (New Britain Rock Cats) Has cruised since the last bump in the road, allowing six hits in five innings over three appearances.
Mike Bolsenbroek (Lakewood BlueClaws) It’s incredible how a guy who makes so many appearances can go all of July without a decision, but we’ll stick to the (many) positives: 1.93 ERA in 11 games, 18.2 IP, 13 K. Hasn’t allowed a run since July 11th.
Mariekson Gregorius (Dayton Dragons) What has two thumbs and a nine game hitting streak? Plus a four hit game to kick-start August? Plus is hitting .291 against righties?
Kalian Sams (Clinton LumberKings) Seems to be all or nothing for Sams lately, as he either goes for a multi-hit game, or tallies up the strikeouts. We’re hoping he gets back on track, fixing up those season numbers of .180, 15, 46.
Tom Stuifbergen (Beloit Snappers) With the club allowing his pitch count to gradually rise after his long DL trip, he’s pitching once a week and up to 6 innings. Hasn’t got a decision yet, but watch the strikeouts roll in! Two starts, 11 IP, 7 H, 9 K, 2 BB, 2 ER. Still undefeated this season and positioning himself for a late call-up if he can stay healthy.
Daan Cornelissen (GCL Pirates) Now hitting .129 in 24 games for the Pirates Rookie affiliate.
Jeroen de Haas (AZL Mariners) Got on the hill twice since the 19th of July, going 2 and 3 innings respectively, allowing a single hit, and striking out 5.
Swen Huijer (GCL Red Sox) Up and down performances continue to be the norm for Huijer, where he will throw a scoreless outing and follow it up with an appearance in which he allows 2+ runs. It does seem likely that his defense is to blame (2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 0 ER), so he should keep his head up.
Rien Vernooij (GCL Mets) Just three hits in July, his best performance a 2-hit, 2-RBI game on the 22nd.
Björn Hato (DSL Mets) Hitting just .203 in 30 games, the long season may be the reason as his numbers have dropped every month. Still, posted a two-fer with a BB and an RBI to close out July.
Ruben Rijkhof (DSL Braves) Just four games to his credit, the 18 year old is battling for more playing time to show his stuff.
Kevin Weijgertse (DSL Mets) A good start to August (2-4, BB, R) and Kevin hopes to put a tough three months behind him.
Scott Ronnenbergh (AZL Mariners) 3.86 ERA in his 4.2 IP so far this season.
Russia
Andrei Lobanov (Beloit Snappers) Has been a busy two weeks, getting four appearances. Took the loss in one of his better appearances, when he K’d two in .2 IP. Lobanov carries a 4.02 ERA in his 15.2 innings at Beloit, which is his third stop of the year. His 2.53 ERA for the season, with 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings, looks better than his latest numbers.
Spain
Alejandro Sanchez (GCL Braves) Showed improvement in July, hitting .200 in 10 games.
Eric Gonzalez (Lake Elsinore Storm) In five trips from the pen since our last update, Eric picked up two wins in relief (now 4-3), and allowed just one run. On the season, the long relief man has thrown 38 innings in 18 games, allowing 48 H, 9 BB, 24 K, and 23 ER.
Deoin Galvan (DSL Braves) Brought his average up to .160 over 21 games, still seeing most of his time as a late-inning defensive replacement.
Roberto Machado (DSL Braves) Has yet to appear in a game since the beginning of June.
Victor Velazquez (DSL Braves) Also seeing his name left off the line-up card this month; no field time since June.