(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Jurickson Profar in Fall Stars Game
Nederlands
 NEW YORK CITY, New York (USA) -
Curaçao-born infielder Jurickson Profar will play in the upcoming tenth edition of the Fall Stars Games, which is the annual All Star Game of the Arizona Fall League.
The rosters for the game were announced on Monday (November 2).
The Fall Stars Game will be played coming Saturday, November 7 at Salt Rivers Field in Scottsdale, which is the temporary home field of the Surprise Saguaros.
And that is the team where Profar currently plays.
Playing in the annual Fall Stars Game are the best players from the Arizona Fall League, which is an off-season league.
In the AFL many of the top Minor League-prospects are playing.
Many of the players are coming from Double-A and Triple-A.
Each club club have the option to send two players from below Double-A.
Each August, a draft will be held to determine the rosters for the AFL.
The league was founded in 1992 to enable these prospects to refine their skills and play in game situations in front of Major League- and Minor League-scouts, who are in attendance daily when the games are played.
There are playing six teams in the AFL, with each of them being affiliated with five Major League-teams, who will provide seven players for the team.
Each team has a 35-man roster.
The AFL also is used to try several rule-changes.
That includes the testing of the six proposed speed-up rules, like a 20-second pitch clock, staying in the batter's box with one foot throughout his at bat, no pitches for an intentional walk, a maximun of 2:30 minutes between innings, a maximum of 2:30 minutes during a pitching change and a limit of only three time-outs per team (which includes a visit to the pitcher by either catcher or coach and coach conferences with a batter).
...Jurickson Profar playing for the Netherlands Team...
...during the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Switch-hitter Jurickson Profar is recovering from a shoulder-injury that has sidelined him the past two seasons.
The 22-year old second baseman/short stop, who was the number one prospect in the Major League a few years ago, suffered a torn shoulder muscle during Spring Training in 2014 and underwent surgery in February of this year.
The switch-hitter returned to action in August when he was assigned to the Hickory Crawdads, the Single-A team of Texas.
There, he played in nine games, then was moved up to the Frisco RoughRiders, which plays in Double-A.
With Frisco, Profar played in three games and concluded his season on September 7.
At Hickory, he batted .273 (9-for-33) with a double and a homerun.
He scored two runs and batted in one.
For Frisco, he batted .200 (2-for-10) with a double and one RBI.
After completion of the season, Profar continued playing in the Arizona Fall League, working on his recovery.
While with the Surprise Saguaros, he played in eight games since October 22.
He is hitting .313 (10-for-32) with four doubles, a triple and a homerun.
He scored seven runs and batted in nine.
On Monday (November 2), he was 2-for-4 in a game against Scottsdale Scorpions.
For the upcoming Fall Star Game, Profar is on the roster for the West Division.
Also included on that roster is outfielder Mike Yastrzemski (Double-A, Baltimore Orioles), who is the grandson of legendary outfielder and Hall of Famer Carl Yastzemski of the Boston Red Sox.
Mike's father (and thus the son of Carl) also played professional baseball and was named Carl Michael Jr., like his father, but instead of being named Carl Jr., he also played under the name of Mike.
In 1982, he participated in the Haarlem Baseball Week with the team of Mississippi State University, then played professionally in 1984-1988, reaching Triple-A with the Chicago White Sox in 1986-1988.
Unfortunately, he passed away at age 43 after suffering a heart attack in 2004.
Jurickson Profar made his Major League-debut in 2012 and then played in nine games for the Texas Rangers, hiting 3-for-17 (.176).
All his hits were extra-basehits, as two were a double and one a homerun.
On September 2, 2012, Profar made a memorable Major League-debut, as he homered in his first at bat in an 8-3 win vs. Cleveland Indians.
In March 2013, Profar was added to the roster of the Netherlands National Baseball Team for the semi-final of the World Baseball Classic in San Francisco (USA).
Back then, he replaced injured Yurendell de Caster.
In the semi-final, Profar was 0-for-3 with a walk.
In the 2013 season, Profar began the season in Triple-A, playing for Round Rock Express.
On May 19 of that year, he was recalled to the big league-team and played in 85 Major League-games for the Rangers.
He finished the season with a .234 batting average (67-for-286) with 11 doubles and six homeruns, scoring 30 runs and batting in 26.
With that, he had a promising big league-career ahead of him.
Unfortunately, he suffered a torn muscle in his right shoulder during Spring Training and on March 30, 2014, he was placed on the disabled list.
He was activated again early November.
It was hoped that he could return to action again this season.
But as he kept being bothered by the injury, Profar underwent surgery to his right labrum in February and was placed back on the disabled list.
As recovery would require a long time, he missed his second consecutive Major League-season.
Besides Profar playing in the Arizona Fall League, there is another player with a Dutch link in the league.
Catcher Spencer Kieboom is playing for Salt River Rafters.
There, he currently hits .286 (8-for-28) with one homerun and four RBI's.
Kieboom has been on the preliminary roster of the Netherlands National Team for the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
His father Alswinn Kieboom played in the Dutch big league before moving to the USA.
This season, Kieboom played in Single-A for the Washington Nationals.
(November 3)
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