(Story Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
  Two more Dutch professionals in Major League Spring Training
Nederlands
 SURPRISE, Arizona (USA) -
While the Dutch big league-teams played their games to prepare for the upcoming season in the weekend on two sunny, but also very crispy days, the Major League Spring Training continued under sunny conditions in Florida and Arizona.
And in Arizona, two more Dutch professional players were assigned to a game of a Major League-team.
One of them played, the other didn't.
On Saturday (March 21), three minor league-players were assigned to the Major League-squad of the Texas Rangers, which had two games scheduled that day with so-called split squad teams.
Two of these players had a Dutch passport, coming from Curaçao, being catcher Sherman Lacrus and infielder Juremi Profar.
The third player was righthanded pitcher Francisco Mendoza.
...Jurickson Profar, Juremi's brother, playing for the Netherlands...
...National Team during the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
...This year, he will mis his second complete season...
...due to an injury...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Juremi Profar turned 19 in January and he is the younger brother of Jurickson Profar, who will be sidelined this entire season, recovering from surgery to his shoulder.
The younger Profar, whose middle name by the way is Gregorius (!), also is an infielder.
In his two professional seasons, Profar played his most games at 3rd base (73) and at short (39).
Profar, born in Willemstad (Curaçao), made his professional debut in 2013 when he played for the DSL Rangers, a Rookie League-team of the Rangers in the Dominican Summer League in the Dominican Republic.
In 63 games, he batted .281 (61-for-217), scored 38 runs and batted in 44.
Last year, Profar played in three different teams and got a quick promotion, as he even played at the Triple-A level.
He played the majority of the season for Spokane Indians in Single-A Short Season.
There, he played in 67 games and batted .247 (62-for-251), scored 26 runs and batted in 36.
Profar also played in seven games for Hickory Crawdads in Single-A, hitting .269 (7-for-26), scoring three runs and batting in four, but also homered once.
Profar also made his debut in Triple-A, appearing in two games for Round Rock Express, where he went 2-for-6 (.333) and scored one run.
Sherman Lacrus turned 21 in December and also played two years professionally in the organization of the Texas Rangers.
Lacrus is born in Kango on the Antillian island of Curaçao (which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands).
While being added to the Spring Training-game as a catcher, he played in all three outfield-positions in more games in his two professional seasons.
He sat behind the plate in 38 games and played in the outfield in 48 games.
Like Profar, Lacrus also made his professional debut in 2013 playing for the Rangers Rookie League-team in the Dominican Republic.
There, he batted .330 (59-for-179), scored 36 runs and batted in 21.
Last season, Lacrus again played in the Rookie League, but then for the AZL Rangers in the Arizona League.
In 2014, he batted .263 (40-for-152), scored 22 runs and batted in 25.
In his two professional seasons, Lacrus hit six homeruns.
On Saturday, Profar (wearing uniform number 24) got into action for the Rangers-team that played at home in a 12-2 loss against the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the top of the eighth inning, Profar entered the game when he replaced short stop Hanser Alberto and became the new 3rd baseman.
Elliot Johnson then moved from third to short.
Profar didn't have a defensive play and he was in the on-deck circle when the final out was made, meaning he didn't got to bat in this game.
Lacrus (wearing uniform number 3) didn't play, but nevertheless became one of the Dutch professionals to be in Spring Training with a Major League-club.
Mendoza, the third of the added minor league-players, threw 1/3 inning in relief.
...Randolph Oduber playing for the...
...Orange last year in the...
...EC in the Czech Republic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On Sunday (March 22), outfielder Randolph Oduber played in his second Spring Training-game for the Washington Nationals and registered his first basehit.
In the game against the Detroit Tigers, the Nationals were leading 5-2 in the top of the 6th inning.
In that at bat, Tyler Moore led off for the Nationals with a double and then Oduber entered the game as pinch-runner.
He advanced to third base on a single by following hitter Ian Stewart, then scored when Sandy Leon grounded into a double play.
Oduber remained in the game and became the new leftfielder for Washington.
He immediately had to come into action defensively, fielding a single into leftfield by lead-off hitter Miguel Cabrera.
In the bottom of the 7th inning, Oduber moved from leftfield to rightfield.
When the top of the 8th inning began, Detroit had narrowed its deficit to 6-5.
Joba Chamberlain then became the new pitcher for the Tigers and got two quick outs, but then gave up a double to Oduber.
He then advanced to third base on a throwing error by catcher Grayson Greiner in a pick-off attempt.
Moments later, Oduber scored on a single by Matt Skole to make it 7-5.
However, Detroit came alongside, thanks to a homerun by Wade Gaynor in the bottom of the 8th and another one by Joey Pankake in the ninth, resulting in the game ending with a 7-7 score.
In the same game, catcher Spencer Kieboom played in his third game for the Nationals and was 0-for-1.
...Shawn Zarraga collected two hits this weekend...
...On the photo, he plays for the Netherlands National...
...Team in last years European Championship...
...in the Czech Republic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Also in the weekend, Shawn Zarraga played in three more games for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Friday, playing for a split squad team of the Dodgers, Zarraga was 1-for-1 in an 11-6 win against the Texas Rangers.
On Saturday, again playing in a split squad team, he entered the game in the top of the 9th inning as pinch-hitter and delivered a lead-off single off of David Martinez, who had become the new pitcher for the split squad team of the Texas Rangers.
Later in the at bat, Zarraga scored on a single by Kyle Jensen.
The Dodgers won 11-3.
On Sunday, Zarraga was 0-for-1 in 4-2 loss against the Cleveland Indians.
With the addition of Profar 14 players with a Dutch passport have now played in this years Spring Training.
They are Infielder Ozhaino Albies, Infielder Andrelton Simmons (both Atlanta Braves), Outfielder Roger Bernadina, Pitcher Jair Jurrjens (both Colorado Rockies), Infielder Xander Bogaerts (Boston Red Sox), Infielder Carlton Daal (Cincinnati Reds), Infielder Didi Gregorius (New York Yankees), Catcher Spencer Kieboom, Outfielder Randolph Oduber (both Washington Nationals), Infielder Juremi Profar (Texas Rangers), Infielder Jonathan Schoop, Infielder Sharlon Schoop (both Baltimore Orioles), Infielder Hainley Statia (Milwaukee Brewers) and Catcher Shawn Zarraga (Los Angeles Dodgers).
Besides these 14, five other Dutch players were or are with big league-teams during Spring Training, but didn't play.
Catcher Chad Tromp (Cincinnati Reds), Infielder Gianfranco Wawoe (Seattle Mariners) and Catcher Sherman Lacrus (Texas Rangers) were assigned to a Major League-game of their respective organization, but didn't play.
Pitcher Kenley Jansen (Los Angeles Dodgers) and infielder Jurickson Profar (Texas Rangers) are on 40-man rosters, but are currently sidelined with injuries.
Bogaerts, Gregorius, Jonathan Schoop and Simmons are also on 40-man rosters.
Earlier Spring Training-reports on this website
 Gianfranco Wawoe latest Dutch player in Spring Training. (March 19)
Productive day for Didi Gregorius. (March 19)
Hainley Statia has also played his first Spring Training-game. (March 17)
Sharlon Schoop also plays in Spring Training-game. (March 17)
Spring Training-debut for Randolph Oduber. (March 16)
Zarraga, Daal also make Spring Training-debut. (March 9)
Didi Gregorius hits first basehit in a Yankee-uniform. (March 8)
Spencer Kieboom makes Spring Training-debut with Washington. (March 8)
Spring Training-debut for Ozhaino Albies. (March 7)
(March 23)
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