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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Robert Bos)
 Oduber, Ricardo, three pitchers leave Neptunus
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus, which captured its fourth consecutive Dutch championship-title this year, saw three pitchers leave the team.
Powerhitting catcher Dashenko Ricardo and outfielder Randolph Oduber also will not be with the Rotterdam-squad next year.
Besides that, veteran infielder Raily Legito has retired and short stop Stijn van der Meer will play in his second professional season in the USA.
Four new players have been added to the roster, while a fifth one will serve in a back-up role.
This season, Neptunus finished in first place in the Overall Standings with a 34-7 record and one tie.
In an exciting Holland Series against L&D Amsterdam Pirates, Neptunus won the best-of-seven 4-2 to capture its fourth title in a row.
Earlier in the year, it was Amsterdam Pirates that bettered Neptunus.
Amsterdam dethroned Neptunus as Cupholder in the European Champions Cup-tournament in Italy and San Marino, then won the Cup themselves the next day.
Next year, Neptunus will be led for the the first time by new Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma, who this season was the 3B Coach in Amsterdam.
He takes over from Evert-Jan 't Hoen, who led Neptunus to a championship in each of his four seasons in Rotterdam.
The transfer-deadline ended on Tuesday, November 1, at 5 PM.
Compete overview of all transfers in the Dutch big league
(November 1)
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Neptunus saw three pitchers leave the team, being starting pitcher Kenny Van Den Branden and relievers Bayron Cornelisse and Steven van Groningen.
Also not coming back are catcher Dashenko Ricardo and outfielder Randolph Oduber, who returned to Curaçao and Aruba respectively.
Besides the above mentioned players, a familiar face also will not be back, as veteran third baseman Raily Legito retired after the season.
Legito made his debut in the highest division in 1999, playing for ADO.
There, he played three years, which was followed by seasons for PSV.
Legito then joined Neptunus in 2004 and played in 13 seasons for the Rotterdam-squad.
Legito, who always has been a very solid third baseman, this season batted .280 (35-for-125), including four doubles.
In 33 games, he scored 22 runs and batted in 17 runs in his 18th and final big league-season.
Legito also has been a regular in the Netherlands National Baseball Team for many years and participated with the Orange-squad in a lot of big international events, including Olympic Games, World Baseball Classic, World Championships and European Championships.
Kenny Van Den Branden led the Dutch big league this season with an 0.62 ERA.
The righthander was 9-0 and struckout 73 batters in 72 2/3 inning, while walking only 22 batters and giving 43 basehits in 13 games (all starts).
Ten days ago, the Belgian was named Best Pitcher of this years big league.
Van Den Branden is unable to combine his playing with his regular job and will return to Belgium.
Bayron Cornelisse and Steven van Groningen both played in their first season for Neptunus, but were not used in the final month-and-a-half of the season.
Both didn't pitched during the Holland Series and last pitched in the first series of the Play-Offs, Van Groningen on August 12 and Cornelisse on August 14.
They now return to the clubs from which they came to Rotterdam, Vaessen Pioniers and HCAW.
In the regular season, Cornelisse pitched in 23 games as reliever and was 3-3 with no saves and an 1.38 ERA.
In 26 innings, the righthander struckout 25 batters and walked only nine.
Van Groningen threw in eleven games for Neptunus, all in relief.
He was 1-0 with one save and closed with a 3.95 ERA.
In 13 2/3 inning, Van Groningen struckout five batters.
Dashenko Ricardo played in only 25 games in his first season for Neptunus.
A year ago, Ricardo was the league's Most Valuable Player when he played for Kinheim.
Ricardo batted .404 (38-for-94) with two homeruns.
He scored 14 runs and batted in 26, which was the second highest total in the team, despite missing several games.
After completion of the European Champions Cup in Italy, Ricardo announced his retirement effective immediately and returned to Curaçao.
However, he returned to an active status a month later when he played for the Netherlands National Team during the Baseball Week Haarlem.
After that event had ended, he also returned to Neptunus, with whom he completed the season and won the Dutch championship.
Ricardo also played for the Dutch Team in the European Championship.
Randolph Oduber played in only eight regular season-games for Neptunus after joining the team in May.
Early April, the outfielder was released by Washington Nationals, with whom he had played during Spring Training.
Oduber was added to the roster of Neptunus, but sustained a leg-injury in only his second game, which kept him out of action for awhile.
In his eight games, Oduber batted .353 (6-for-17), scored four runs and batted in one.
...Dashenko Ricardo... | 
Randolph Oduber... | 
Bayron Cornelisse... | 
...Steven van Groningen... |
| (© All Photos: Henk Seppen) | (© Photo: Robert Bos) |
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New in Rotterdam next season will be catcher Jarreau Martina, American first baseman Gregory Muller and outfielder Jochem Koedijk.
Returning to Neptunus is righthanded pitcher Elton Koeiman, while righthanded pitcher Misja Harcksen and infielder Ruar Verkerk already re-joined the team during this season.
Elton Koeiman and Jarreau Martina are both coming from De Glaskoning Twins.
Koeiman has become the Pitching Coach of Neptunus in the staff of new Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma, but also will be one of the pitchers.
This season, Elton Koeiman threw in 13 games for Twins, all starts.
The 43-year old righthander was 3-7 with a 4.96 ERA.
On June 26, he threw a 7-inning No-Hitter against DSS.'
That only was the first in his long career, he also became the oldest pitcher to throw a No-Hitter.
Koeiman struckout 46 batters in 74 1/3 inning, walked 26, but also gave up 96 basehits.
Koeiman earlier pitched for Neptunus in 1996-1998.
Jarreau Martina was an utility player this season for Twins, being used as catcher and outfielder.
With a .299 batting average (35-for-117), he was the second best hitter of the team this year.
Martina registered five doubles, scored 22 runs and batted in five.
After completion of the season, he retired, but he will be on the roster of Neptunus next season as a back-up catcher, who can be inserted when needed.
Neptunus will start the season with only one catcher, Gianison Boekhoudt.
He didn't caught many games this year, as the majority was handled by Dashenko Ricardo, but he has left.
Shadrach Meulens, who joined Neptunus in May, also did some of the catching.
Meulens probably will return again next year, but not before the end of May, due to his study on an American college.
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...Jochem Koedijk (left) and Jarreau Martina (right)...
(© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) |
Jochem Koedijk played for Kinheim this season.
He played in all 42 games for the Haarlem-squad and batted .275 (36-for-141) with six doubles.
Koedijk scored 28 runs and batted in 22.
Righthanded pitcher Misja Harcksen and infielder Ruar Verkerk joined Neptunus during the season.
Both initially played professionally this season, but were released.
Verkerk, who played at the Rookie League-level in the organization of Minnesota Twins, was released on June 14.
He then returned to Rotterdam and played in 12 games for Neptunus, hitting .276 (8-for-29).
Harcksen also played at the Rookie League-level in the organization of Los Angeles Dodgers.
He was released on September 18 and was with Neptunus during the postseason.
He pitched one inning during the Holland Series.
That was the eleventh inning of the opening game and Harcksen ended up being the losing pitcher.
Coming from the USA is Gregory Muller.
The first baseman played four seasons (2010-2013) for the Great Danes, the baseball-team of the University of Albany.
In his Senior-year, he was named to the America East All-Conference Second Team.
In that season, he was the third best hitter of the team with a .306 batting average.
Muller collected 53 basehits and led the team with 39 RBI's.
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