It happens every year at the end of Spring Training. Major League club release minor league players in bunches to set up their farm clubs for the upcoming season. And obviously European players are not immune to receive the boot.
The most prominent player from a European standpoint is certainly Luke Sommer. The left-hander from Oregon, who received a German passport right in time for the European Championship last summer and impressed also in the WBC Qualifier, got released by the Detroit Tigers following Spring Training camp. Formerly in Triple-A he pitched for Corendon Kinheim in the Dutch Hoofdklasse and would certainly be reinforcement for any European team, especially since he wouldn’t be considered as foreign player.
Other players with European tie not making the cut for opening day rosters on Minor or Major League teams are Will Ohman (played for Germany in WBCQ), Estevenson Encarnacion (played for Great Britain in WBCQ), Dudley Leonora (St. Martin), Aliaksei Lukashevich (from Belarus), Dashenko Ricardo (already has found new team with LA Dodgers) and Kevin Weijgertse (returns to Netherlands).
Meanwhile the Minor League season is ready to go. Full-season leagues from Triple-A to Low-A are scheduled to get underway this Thursday. Mister-Baseball.com is trying to keep track of most, if not all European players in affiliated Minor League ball. The most exciting players to watch this Spring should be Jurickson Profar, Xander Bogaerts and Donald Lutz among others, as hot hitting streaks or injuries at the Major League level could fasttrack their route to the big leagues.
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