by Pim van Nes
The Dominican born right handed pitcher Orlando Yntema (31) returned from World Baseball Classic with health problems to the Netherlands: the native country of both his father and his son. At first he was treated for a virus in his residence city Amsterdam, but he did not recover satisfactorily. Then his baseball club Curacao Neptunus intervened and arranged for a second check in reputed Haven Ziekenhuis (Port Hospital) in Rotterdam. Here a tumor in his thyroid gland was diagnosed and another treatment started, while his club competed in national Hoofdklasse and in European Champions Cup.
Last Saturday July 29, in Neptunus away game versus Pickles UVV, starting pitcher Yntema made his first appearance in this season with the intention of about 20 pitches only. He allowed a single and a walk, but no run thanks to a strike-out, a fly-out and a force-out grounder, conserving his teammates 2-0 lead in the first inning. One inning was a great job for this frequent complete games pitcher, who came back from the deepest crisis of his career. His baseball talents brought him from Dominican Republic to USA, Italy and the Netherlands. A few months ago he was not expected to come back to his team before the end of 2017 season.
Regional RTV station Rijnmond made this English language video report about Orlando Yntema joining his Neptunus teammates, who a months ago shared “live” their European Champions Cup victory in Regensburg, Germany with: http://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/157674/Orlando-Yntema-is-als-ander-mens-terug-bij-Neptunus?r=sport