(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
     Sicnarf Looptok, Jiandido Tromp, Juremi Profar, Junior Martina to play in Independent Frontier League
Nederlands
    AVON, Ohio / CRESTWOOD, Illinois (USA) / QUEBEC CITY, Quebec / OTTAWA, Ontario (Canada) -
Four players with a Dutch passport will play this season in the Independent Frontier League, which is a professional league with teams in the northeast and midwest of the USA and the eastern part of Canada.
Since 2020, the Frontier League is a MLB Partner League.
All four players have played in the Netherlands National Team, two of them are on the roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
Three players have played in the Dutch big league and all three did so last season.
...Sicnarf Loopstok hitting for Pirates...
...in the 2022 season...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On February 20, Lake Erie Crushers announced the signing of catcher/first baseman Sicnarf Loopstok and outfielder Jiandido Tromp.
Two days earlier, Loopstok was acquired by Lake Erie in a trade with Ottawa Titans in exchange for righthanded pitcher Gleyvin Pineda.
Last year, Loopstok played in the Dutch big league for L&D Amsterdam Pirates, while Tromp played for Curaçao Neptunus.
When Amsterdam Pirates was eliminated in the Play-Offs by HCAW last year at the end of August, Sicnarf Loopstok signed with Ottawa Titans (Les Titans d'Ottawa).
However, in the remainder of the season in the Frontier League, the catcher didn't play for the Canadian club.
And now, as mentioned, Ottawa traded Loopstok to Lake Erie Crushers, which plays its home-games in Mercy Health Stadium in Avon (Ohio), which is close to Cleveland.
After Neptunus lost the Holland Series against HCAW, Jiandido Tromp went on to play for Leones de León in the professional league in Nicaragua.
On February 14, it was confirmed that infielder Juremi Profar was signed by Québec Capitales (Les Capitales de Québec).
And on January 25, it already was announced that short stop Junior Martina was signed by Windy City ThunderBolts, which plays in Crestwood (Illinois), close to Chicago.
Last month, both Loopstok and Profar were named to the roster for the Netherlands Team for the World Baseball Classic, which opens on March 8.
The past eleven days, the Orange squad prepared for the event in Arizona and Tromp also then also was with the team.
The schedule in the Frontier League opens on Thursday, May 11 with three games.
Lake Erie Crushers, the team of Loopstok and Tromp, plays its first game on May 12 at home against Quebec Capitales, the team of Profar.
Martina will open his season on the same day at home against Schaumburg Boomers.
Last season, Lake Erie finished in a tie for fourth place in the West Division with a 49-47 record.
Quebec finished in first place in the East Division by going 62-34.
Windy City ended up in last place in the West with a 33-62 record.
Quebec went on to capture the Frontier League-title.
In the past, Kalian Sams also played for the Canadian team.
Sams retired after completion of last season when he played for Amsterdam Pirates.
Last year, Sicnarf Loopstok was the second best hitter in team of Amsterdam Pirates, hitting .311 behind Delano Selassa (.348).
Loopstok collected five doubles, two triples and four homeruns, scored sixteen runs and batted in seventeen.
In 2021, the catcher also played for Pirates when it prolonged it Dutch championship-title.
Loopstok then batted .337, second-best behind Denzel Richardson (.433) with eleven doubles and two homeruns, while batting in twenty runs.
Jiandido Tromp made his debut in the Dutch big league last season playing for Neptunus.
He batted .253, which was the eighth highest average in the team.
Tromp recorded fourteen doubles and one triple, while batting in 31 runs and scoring 39, which were both third-best in the team.
Junior Martina also played for Neptunus last year.
He then batted .333 (11-for-33), scored once and batted in seven runs in nine games.
In 2020, Martina played in 16 games for Twins Oosterhout (hitting .315).
He made his debut in the highest Dutch league in 2018 when he played for DSS in thirteen games, hitting .204.
(February 28)
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