It is rumored all winter and the Bonn Capitals apparently were hoping he would reconsider. But in their game day preview before opening the 2012 season in the German Baseball-Bundesliga the club finally revealed that Tim Henkenjohann is only a so called “stand-by-player”, being on the verge of retirement. The Caps already had signed Markus Solbach as a long-term replacement, who is coming from the Pulheim Gophers, but will spend most of the year in Florida playing for the Minnesota Twins organization.
Henkenjohann is only 31 years old. The tall right-hander pitched three years for Minnesota Twins farm teams after signing in 2001 before an ankle injury ended his professional career. He returned to Germany and is considered probably the best German pitcher of the last decade. With the German national team he got starts against Cuba, South Korea or Team USA in Baseball World Cups or against the Netherlands in European Championships. He played for the Capitals since 2006. Last year he had a 5-1 record with an ERA of 3.28 in 14 games during the regular season. He struck out 81 batters in 79 2/3 innings, walking 35.