Rogier van Zorn from Honkbalsite.com reports on Tuesday that the KONICA MINOLTA PIONIERS have signed a third new player after Ryan Murphy (Amsterdam) and Shane Gnade (Almere’90, currently Orkas) a few days ago. The 37-year-old Johnny Balentina returns to the Hoofdklasse to play for the 2008 semi-finalist.
Outfielder Balentina last played in the Netherlands in 2007, when he appeared in 29 games for DOOR NEPTUNUS, batting .350 (OBP .423/SLG .467) with 22 runs scored and 18 RBIs. In 2008 he played in Curacao for the ROYAL SCORPIONS. Besides his long time with NEPTUNUS he also played for KINHEIM, ADO and SPARTA ROTTERDAM. In a total of 654 Hoofdklasse games since 1990 he has a career batting average of .343 (SLG .474) with 35 homeruns and 483 RBIs. The veteran also played 146 games for the Dutch Baseball National Team since 1992.
Besides the refreshments on the PIONIERS roster, a bunch of guys will leave the club. Pitchers Dave Draijer (RCH), Jurrian Koks (ADO, ERA 6.25, 39 SO, 18 BB, 44.2 IP), Tommy van Limburg (2.1 IP, ERA 11.57) and Alberto Mieres Paez (ERA 3.61, 26 SO, 26 BB, 42.1 IP) will not return, as well as first baseman/DH De Flanegin (AVG .331, SLG .476, 23 runs, 27 RBI) and outfielder Edwin de Graaf (.342, .474, 19 runs, 17 RBI).
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