 Leon Boyd to play for Corendon Kinheim
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Leon Boyd returns to the Dutch big league this season, as he agreed to pitch for Corendon Kinheim, the reigning Dutch champion announced.
...Leon Boyd during the World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The 29-year old Canadian-born righthanded pitcher earlier played in the Netherlands for DOOR Neptunus.
There, he made his debut in the Dutch big league in 2007 after having pitched for Hoboken Pioneers in Belgium the year before.
In his first season, he went 9-0 with 61 strikeouts in 66 2/3 inning and finished with an 1.22 ERA, which earned him a nomination for the Best Pitcher Award.
He didn't win, as David Bergman then was named Best Pitcher.
In the 2007 season, Bergman pitched for Konica Minolta Pioniers and now will be Boyd's teammate at Kinheim.
In 2008, Boyd returned on the mound for Neptunus and went 10-2 with 86 strikeouts and an 1.64 ERA.
Again, Boyd was nominated for the Best Pitcher Award, but this time it was won by Rob Cordemans, who then pitched for Sparta-Feyenoord.
In November 2006, Boyd made his debut in the Dutch National Team and participated in the Intercontinental Cup in Taiwan.
A year later, he participated with the Orange squad in the World Port Tournament, the European Championship/Olympic Qualifier in Barcelona (Spain) and the world Championship in Taiwan.
And in 2008, he was a member of the team that participated in the Haarlem Baseball Week and Olympic Games in Beijing (China).
And so, Boyd also was with the team when it participated in the second World Baseball Classic in 2009.
After completion of that event, he was to return to Rotterdam to play for Neptunus, but things changed, as his good performances during the WBC earned him a Minor League-contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.
In the 2009 season, Boyd pitched professionally for the Dunedin Blue Jays in Single-A and New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Double-A.
For these two teams combined, he was 1-6 with 51 strikeouts in 64 1/3 inning.
After his first professional season, he was released and he returned to Neptunus in 2010.
He went 9-0, struckout 83 batters in 69 1/3 inning and had an 0.39 ERA.
This time, Boyd won the Best Pitcher Award, beating both David Bergman and Rob Cordemans, who were the other nominees and now played for Corendon Kinheim and L&D Amsterdam Pirates respectively.
After the 2010 season, Boyd returned to Canada and went on to play for the Burnaby Bulldogs.
But he remained on the roster for the Dutch Team after the 2008 WBC and participated in two Haarlem Baseball Weeks (2010, 2012), one World Port Tournament (2011), one European Championship (2010), Intercontinental Cup (2010) and two World Championships (2009, 2011) since then.
In 2011, he was a member of the squad that captured the world title in Panama and therefore, received a Royal Decoration.
Last year, Boyd didn't pitch during the European Championship, but returned on the mound for the Dutch during the World Baseball Classic last month, reaching the semi-final of the event.
(April 4)
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