The 2017 EBCA Convention will be held from November 10 to 12 in Antwerp, Belgium. Visit www.baseball-in-europe.com to register.
by European Baseball Coaches Association
Steve Janssen was a catcher in the Belgian leagues, beginning his career in 1987 at age 15. He played on 7 national champions in Belgium before retiring in 1997. He then coached in Belgium for two years. From 2000-2002, he coached the DOOR Tridents in Eerste Klasse. He then was pitching coach for DOOR Neptunus through 2005, helping the team win a Holland Series each year he held that job. He was also a pitching coach for the Dutch national team at times from 2002-2005.
In 2006, he was a coach with Neptunus. He was technical director of the Belgian Baseball Federation in 2007. For 2008, he was hired as head coach of Sparta/Feyenoord and led them to a 21-21 record.
In 2009, DOOR Neptunus then brought him back, this time as their head coach and Steve didn’t disappoint, helping the Rotterdam powerhouse to land its first title since 2005, a record tying 12th national crown in the team history.
He joined the Dutch national team again as a pitching coach in 2010. The next year Team Kingdom became World Champions, beating Cuba in the finals. He got inducted into the Belgian Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2013 he worked with Bert Blyleven, securing the 3rd place at the World Baseball Classic.
Later in 2013 Steve Janssen became manager of the Dutch National Team. With this current position, he won several European titles and tournaments. In 2015 he had the honour to be manager of the European All-Star team in Japan.
In his 30+ years of coaching, Janssen has been a speaker for several coach clinics throughout Europe. He was Coach of the Year twice, and is excited to speak at his (almost) ‘home town’ Antwerp this year.
