(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Jan Kruijdenberg & Henk Seppen)
    Spring Training-debuts for Sem Robberse and Derek West
Nederlands
     CLEARWATER / FORT MYERS / NORTH PORT / WEST PALM BEACH, Florida / GOODYEAR, Arizona (USA) -
Dutch pitchers Sem Robberse and Derek West have made their Spring Training-debut.
The 21-year old righthander Robberse made his debut on Tuesday-afteroon (February 28), pitching one inning for Toronto Blue Jays.
The 26- year old righthander West pitched one inning the day before for Houston Astros.
Last month, West was one of the pitchers named on the roster of the Netherlands Team for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
Sem Robberse is a real Dutch-born pitcher.
He was born in Zeist (Netherlands), where Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven also was born.
On January 30 of this year, Robberse was invited as a non-roster player to participate in Major League Spring Training with Toronto Blue Jays in Florida.
On Tuesday, a split-squad of Toronto Blue Jays played an away-game against Philadelphia Phillies at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, with Philadelphia leading 5-1, Sem Robberse became the sixth Toronto-pitcher in this game.
The righthander walked the first batter he faced Vito Friscia.
He then got two force-play grounders and the inning ended with a flyout.
The professional career of Sem Robberse started some 3½ years ago when, on July 24, 2019, he was signed to a Minor League-contract by Toronto Blue Jays.
Three days later, the righthander was assigned to the Rookie League-team of the Canadian Major League-club.
There, he made his professsional debut and pitched in five games (three starts).
Robberse was 2-0 with an 0.87 ERA and struckout nine batters in 10 1/3 inning, giving up eleven basehits, but only one run and walking none.
With that, Robberse made a fine professional debut, but then the entire 2020 Minor League-season was cancelled due to the coronavius-pandemic.
When the Minor League-season re-opened in 2021, Robberse promoted to Single-A and played at two different levels (Single-A and Single-A Advanced).
Overall, he pitched in 21 games (19 starts) and was 5-7 with a 4.36 ERA.
Robberse pitched in 88 2/3 inning and struckout 90 batters, while walking 38.
...Sem Robberse pitching for Quick Amersfoort in 2019...
(© Photo: Jan Kruijdenberg) |
That led to another promotion last year.
Robberse initially started the season again with Vancouver Canadians (High Single-A), where he was 4-4 with 78 strikeouts in 86 2/3 inning in 17 games (all starts).
In August, he promoted to New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A team of Toronto.
There, he pitched in five games (all starts) and was 0-3, but struckout 19 batters in 24 2/3 inning, while walking only ten batters.
Overall, in three Minor League-seasons, Sem Robberse struckout 196 batters in 210 1/3 inning, walking 72.
He is 11-14 with a 3.59 ERA.
Robberse is the number 7 prospect in the Toronto-organization.
Before turning professional, Sem Robberse made his debut in the Dutch big league during the 2018 season when he pitched in six games (three starts) for HCAW.
He then was 1-3 with an 1.80 ERA and twelve strikeouts in 20 innings.
Robberse also made three relief-appearances in the following Top-4 Pool and then was 0-1 with a 7.11 ERA.
In 2019, Robberse pitched for Quick Amersfoort and led the team's pitching-staff with an 1.83 ERA.
He then pitched in nine games (all starts) and was 6-3, striking out 62 batters in 64 innings, before leaving to make his professional debut.
When the 2020 Minor League-season was cancelled, some Dutch and Antillian players returned to the Netherlands to play there in the abbreviated season.
Robberse opted to stay in the USA.
Righthanded pitcher Derek West made his Spring Training-debut on Monday-afternoon.
The 'Dutch' pitcher then threw one inning for Houston Astros against Miami Marlins in a home-game at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches at West Palm Beach.
West entered the game in the top of the eighth inning, becoming the sixth pitcher for Houston, with Miami leading 4-2.
West got a lead-off grounder, then walked pinch-hitter Jan Mercado and gave up a single to Cuban Victor Mesa, Jr., which led to runners on first and third base.
But the inning then ended with a double play.
Miami won 4-3.
As mentioned, Derek West is on the roster of the Netherlands for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, which opens on March 8.
West was born in Orange City, Florida, but is eligible to pitch for the Netherlands, as his grandparents are Dutch and immigrated from the Netherlands to the USA in the early sixties.
Like Robberse, West made his professional debut in 2019 when he pitched in Short Season Single-A in the Houston Astros-organization.
He then was 1-1 in thirteen games with a 6.75 ERA (two starts).
In the 2021 season, West pitched in the Rookie League and High Single-A.
For these two teams combined, he appeared in eight games (one start) and was 0-0 with one save and a 6.52 ERA.
Last year, West pitched in High Single-A and Double-A and threw in 32 games as a reliever.
He was 5-2 with four saves and a 4.82 ERA, striking out 52 batters in 46 2/3 inning.
In the past winter, Derek West pitched for Cangrejeros de Santurce in the Puerto Rican Winter League, where he was a teammate of Didi Gregorius.
West pitched in 14 games as reliever and was 2-0 with three saves and 21 strikeouts.
On February 26. West was added to the Major League-team of Houston Astros as an additional Minor League-player.
He then made his Spring Training-debut the next day.
Three other Dutch players had some good outings in the past few days.
...Chadwick Tromp hitting for the...
...Netherlands during the 2016...
...European Championship...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On Monday, Curaçao-born Ceddanne Rafaela was 1-for-1 for Boston Red Sox and batted in two runs at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers (Florida) in a 4-1 win against Minnesota Twins.
In the bottom of the sixth inning with the score at 1-1 and one out, pinch-hitter Bobby Dalbec doubled, then the bases got loaded when Emmanuel Valdez and Caleb Hamilton both walked.
Rafaela was then inserted as pinch-hitter and delivered a runscoring single to put Boston ahead, 2-1.
A following sacrifice fly by Greg Allen added another run.
In the eighth inning, Rafaela batted in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly.
Also on Monday, Aruban-born Chadwick Tromp was 1-for-1 and batted in a run for Atlanta Braves in a 7-0 win against Toronto Blue Jays at home in CoolToday Park in North Port (Florida).
With Atlanta leading 5-0, Tromp entered the game as new catcher in the top of the sixth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Justin Dean led off with a single, stole second base with one out, then moved to third base on a single by Ehire Adrianza.
Tromp followed with a runscoring single and moved himself into scoring position on an outfield-error.
He then stranded on third base.
In the bottom of the eighth, Tromp walked with one out, but was left behind again.
On Sunday, Richie Palacios was 2-for-2 for Cleveland Guardians in a home-game against Texas Rangers (which won 13-4) at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear (Arizona).
Palacios was the starting rightfielder for Cleveland.
With two outs in the bottom of the second innng, he singled, but then was caught stealing moments later.
In the sixth inning, Palacios singled with one out.
This time, he was eliminated in a double play.
On Tuesday, Palacios was the lead-off hitter and starting leftfielder for a split-squad of Cleveland.
He was 1-for-2, scored a run and walked in a 12-6 loss against Kansas City Royals.
Rafaela, Tromp and Palacios are all on the 40-man rosters of their respective clubs.
On March 1, Tromp and Palacios will join the Netherlands Team, which then travels to Taiwan for the First Round on the World Baseball Classic.
The Orange Team opens the event on March 8 against Cuba.
Palacios was born in Brooklyn (New York), as was his brother Josh Palacios, who also is on the WBC-roster for the Netherlands.
They are nephews of Rey Palacios, who played in 101 Major League-games for Kansas City Royals in 1988-1990.
Last year, Richie Palacios made his Major League-debut, playing in 54 games for Cleveland Guardians.
Josh Palacios played in 29 Major League-games last season for Washington Nationals after already having played in thirteen games for Toronto Blue Jays in 2021.
Josh currently plays in the Pittsburgh Pirates-organization.
The two Palacios-brothers are eligible to play for the Netherlands as their mother comes from Curaçao.
Like Derek West, Richie and Josh Palacios both played in the Puerto Rican Winter League last winter.
They played for Indios de Mayagüez.
Josh played in 19 games, hitting .214 with one homerun and twelve runs batted in.
Richie played in 20 games and batted .217, also with one homerun.
He batted in eight runs.
(February 28)
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