(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
  Breaking news: Gregorius traded to Yankees!
Nederlands
 NEW YORK, New York (USA) -
Dutch professional player Mariekson 'Didi' Gregorius has been traded to the New York Yankees today (Friday, December 5).
There, he will become the new short stop, succeeding Derek Jeter, who this season retired as a active player after 20 years.
Coincindentally, another Dutch player was one of the predecessors of Jeter, who played for the Yankees in 1995-2014.
In 1994, Robert Eenhoorn made his Major League-debut, playing in three games as short stop for the Yankees.
A year later, Eenhoorn added two more games at short with the Yankees, then moved to second base, where he played three games.
In 1996, Eenhoorn was the Yankees' second baseman in 10 games and played at third base in two games.
In September of that year, Eenhoorn was traded to the California Angels.
Gregorius is part of a 3-team trade, including the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers.
Gregorius comes to New York from the Diamondbacks, which gets lefthanded pitcher Robbie Ray from the Detroit Tigers.
The Yankees are sending righthanded pitcher Shane Greene to Detroit.
The D'backs also got middle infielder talent Domingo Leyba, who played in the Minor League for the Tigers.
The transfers were reported by WFAN Radio in New York on Friday-afternoon, then were later confirmed by the clubs.
The 24-year old Gregorius signed a professional contract in 2007, then made his Major League-debut in 2012, playing in eight games for the Cincinnati Reds.
After the 2012 season, he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he became a regular player in 2013, appearing in 103 games.
This season, Gregorius played in 80 games for the Diamondbacks.
In March, Gregorius was on the Opening Day-roster of the D'backs and played in one of the two Opening Games the team played in Sydney (Australia) against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After the team returned to the States, Gregorius was assigned to Triple-A, but returned back to the Majors early June.
Last year, Gregorius batted .252 with 90 basehits and seven homeruns, plus 16 doubles and three triples.
This season, he batted .226 with 61 hits and six homeruns, nine doubles and five triples.
Gregorius played at short stop in almost all of his 191 Major League-games (173).
Last season, he was the Diamondsbacks short stop in 100 games, this year, he played in 67 games at that position.
Gregorius is born in Amsterdam (Netherlands), where he grew up, as his father Didi Gregorius was a pitcher for several years in the Dutch big league for Amsterdam Pirates.
On September 3, 2013, Gregorius reached a milestone.
On that day, he played in his 100th Major League-game to become the first Dutch-born and raised player to accomplish this.
The other Dutch-born and raised players in the Majors are Robert Eenhoorn (37 games), Rikkert Faneyte (80), Greg Halman (44), (50) and Win Remmerswaal (22).
In 2009 and 2011, Gregorius played for the Netherlands National Baseball Team at the World Championships.
In 2011, he captured the World Championship-title with the Dutch in Panama.
(December 5)
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