Haarlem native Gregory Halman made his Major League debut on Thursday. The 23-year-old outfielder started in center field for the Seattle Mariners in their final game of a series against the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. He struck out in his first at-bat as a big leaguer.
Halman was called up to the Mariners on Wednesday together with first baseman Mike Carp, third baseman Matt Mangini and reliever Anthony Varvaro to join the MLB team for the remainder of the season. Seattle is currently in fourth place in the AL West Division with a 58-93 record.
Halman began his sixth professional season with the Triple-A Team of the Mariners in Tacoma. He finished the year in the Minors, batting .243 (OBP .310/SLG .545) with 33 homeruns, 82 runs and 80 RBI. He struck out 169 times in 424 at-bats.