  Roger Bernadina becomes Free Agent
Nederlands
...Roger Bernadina during the WBC...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
 PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (USA) -
Dutch outfielder Roger Bernadina was been removed from the 40-man roster of the Philadelphia Phillies last week and opted to become a Free Agent.
The 29-year old Bernadina joined the Phillies in August and appeared in 27 games for the team after being released earlier by Washington Nationals.
This was Bernadina's sixth season in the Major League.
In March of this year, Bernadina reached the semi-final of the World Baseball Classic with the Netherlands National Baseball Team.
Bernadina signed a professional contract in 2001 with Montreal Expos.
He made his debut a year later, playing in 57 games for the Rookie League-team of the Expos, which became the Washington Nationals in 2005.
After having played for four seasons in Single-A, he promoted to Double-A and Triple-A in 2007.
Bernadina again played in Double-A and Triple-A in 2008, which also was the year in which he made his debut in the Major League.
He made his debut on June 29, 2008 when he was the lead-off hitter and centerfielder for Washington Nationals against Baltimore Orioles.
In that game, Bernadina hit a single in his first big league-at bat when he faced Jeremy Guthrie.
In 2010 and last year, Bernadina and Guthrie both participated in the European Big League Tour of Dutch pitcher Rick van den Hurk.
Playing centerfield that day for Baltimore was Adam Jones, who also participated twice in the EBLT.
In the remainder of the 2008 season, Bernadina went on to play in 26 games for the Nationals.
In 2009, he made only three appearances in the big league, as he played the majority of the season in Triple-A.
While he also played in Triple-A in 2010 and 2011, Bernadina became a more or less regular player in the Major League.
In 2010, he played in 134 games and in 2011 in 91 games for the Nationals, where he became one of the starting outfielders and didn't play again in the Minor League from 2012 on.
After having played in 129 games during the 2012 season, hitting .291, Bernadina returned to the Nationals for this season.
He played in 85 games, but batted only .178 with 18 runs scored and six runs batted in.
This led to his release on August 19.
But two days later, he signed as a Free Agent with the Philadelphia Phillies.
With the Phillies, Bernadina played in 27 games and batted .187 (14-for-75) with two homeruns, five RBI's and eight runs scored.
He struckout 21 times and walked four times.
On October 16, it was announced that Bernadina was one of four players who were outrighted to Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A team of the Phillies.
When a player is outrighted, he has the option to refuse the assignment and become a Free Agent.
Bernadina elected for free agency the next day, meaning he becomes available for other clubs.
One day after Bernadina joined the Phillies, Ryne Sandberg took over as new Manager of the team after he was named interim-manager on August 16.
After completion of the season, it was announced that the organization would look to the compilation of the current 40-man roster.
Since then, several players were removed from the roster, while also some new coaches were named, replacing others.
(October 21)
|
