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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen. Robert Bos, Jan Kruijdenberg & Freek Bouw)
 Twins adds young players to roster
Nederlands
 OOSTERHOUT (Neth.) -
After completion of its first season back at the highest level, De Glaskoning Twins has added 14 new players to its roster for coming year.
Some of these new additions on the winter-roster are young and talented players, several coming from Belgium, who will get the opportunity to make the main-squad for next season.
Seven players left the team from Oosterhout, including four of their five best hitters this season.
Last year, Twins promoted to the big league after winning the best-of-five Promotion/Relegation Series against Mampaey The Hawks, which relegated.
This year, the team made its comeback at the highest level and finished in sixth place in the Overall Standings with a 16-26 record.
In the following Play-Downs, Twins finished in second place behind HCAW to secure its sixth overall position and also securing a spot in next years big league.
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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Amongst the 14 new players are five young and talented pitchers, three of them coming from Belgium.
The team also promoted four players from its Rookie League Team to the main-squad, three of whom made their big league-debut this season.
Five of the new players played in the Dutch big league this season.
The newcomers are righthanded pitcher Jan Evertse (Euro Stars), righthanded pitcher/outfielder Jason Jie-Sam-Foek, righthanded pitcher Sharlon Lebacks, lefthanded pitcher Jace Van Droogenbroeck, infielder Riugino Jonis (all Deurne Spartans, Belgium), righthanded pitcher Reynaldo Sarmiento Claro (Wassenaar), righthanded pitcher Thijs Steenwijk, first baseman Jamie Verheylewegen (both Pickles UVV), infielder Menno Lenting and outfielder Melvin Perdue (both DSS).
Added from the Rookie League Team were righthanded pitcher Mic van de Ven, infielder/outfielder Denzel Bryson, outfielder Bram Grooten and outfielder Tair Vrutaal.
From the seven pitchers added to the roster, three have pitched in the big league, two of them this season.
Thijs Steenwijk appeared in 18 games this season for Pickles UVV, including one as a starter.
He was 0-1 with no saves and a 4.88 ERA.
The righthander threw 28 2/3 inning in which he struckout 15 batters, but walked 28 and gave up 38 basehits.
Reynaldo Sarmiento Claro comes from Wassenaar, but pitched in the big league some years ago for ADO and Sparta-Feyenoord.
Three pitchers are coming from Belgium, righthander Jason Jie-Sam-Foek, righthander Sharlon Lebacks and lefthander Jace Van Droogenbroeck.
They all played for Deurne Spartans, with whom they won the Belgian championship-title.
Also coming from that team is infielder Riugino Jonis, who led Spartans this season with a .423 batting average (55-for-130).
He also led the squad in runs scored (43), basehits (55), doubles (13), triples (4), homeruns (6) and runs batted in (38).
Except for Lebacks, they also participated with Spartans in this years European Federations Cup, where the team finished in third place.
Van Droogenbroeck also pitched for the National Team of Belgium during this years European Championship in the Netherlands, where the squad finished in sixth place.
Jie-Sam-Foek, who primarily played in the outfield, batted .308 this season for Spartans and batted in twelve runs and was 1-3 as pitcher.
Van Droogenbroeck was 5-4 in the regular season in Belgium and struckout 51 batters in 58 1/3 inning.
Lebacks was 7-1 with an 1.98 ERA, striking out 48 batters in 77 1/3 inning.
...Jan Evertse...
(© Photo: Freek Bouw) | 
...Denzel Bryson...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
Talented righthander Jan Evertse comes to Twins from Euro Stars, which finished in sixth place this season in the second highest league ('Overgangsklasse').
In 2014, Evertse was a member of the Dutch Tigers, a regional team from the area of Rotterdam and The Hague that made a baseball-trip to Arizona in the USA.
For some of us who are associated with Dutch baseball for a long time, the name Evertse might ring a bell and may sound familiar.
That is correct, as Jan Evertse is the son of Maarten Evertse, the longtime Public Address Announcer of big league-club Sparta.
He is the grandson of Jan Evertse, who was the club secretary of Rotterdam-based Sparta for many years and welcomed the game officials during home games, showing his hospitality and making everyone feel at home.
First baseman Jamie Verheyleweghen missed several games due to an injury, but played in 31 this season for Pickles UVV.
The Belgian batted .284 (27-for-95) with six doubles.
He scored 12 runs and batted in 15, which was the third highest-total of the team.
Coming from DSS are outfielder Melvin Perdue and infielder Menno Lenting, who this season were the two leading hitters for the Haarlem-based team.
Perdue led the team with a .286 batting average (38-for-133) and also led in on-base percentage (.378) and with his 38 basehits, including four doubles and two triples.
The American centerfielder scored 12 runs and also batted in 12.
Perdue was mostly used as lead-off hitter and walked twenty times.
Lenting batted .277 (33-for-119) with three doubles and one triple.
He scored 11 runs and batted in ten, while receiving 17 walks.
Lenting led DSS with four sacrifice bunts.
Rookies Mic van de Ven, Denzel Bryson and Bram Grooten all made their big league-debut this season playing for Twins.
Righthanded pitcher Van de Ven appeared in two games during the regular season.
He was 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA and pitched eight innings.
Bryson, who mostly played in the outfield, but also at third base, played in six games.
He batted .182 (4-for-22), scored one run and had two RBI's.
In the Play-Downs, Bryson batted .207 in eight games, scoring four runs.
Outfielder Grooten played in eight games and hit .300 (6-for-20), including a basehit in his first-ever big league at bat.
He scored three runs, but had no RBI's.
In the Play-Downs, Grooten batted .286 in three games.
Also coming from the Rookies is outfielder Tair Vrutaal.
He already played for Twins last season when it won the title in the 'Overgangsklasse' and promoted to the big league.
...Jamie Verheyleweghen... | 
...Menno Lenting... | 
...Jace Van Droogenbroeck... |
| (© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) | (© Photo: Robert Bos) |
|
...Jeffrey Arends... | 
...Jarreau Martina... |
| (© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) |
Seven players have left Twins, including its three best hitters of this season, Jeffrey Arends, Jarreau Martina and Berry van Donselaar.
Also not returning next season are righthanded pitcher Elton Koeiman, righthanded pitcher Ben Van Nuffel, catcher Stijn Janssens and infielder Shurty Tremus.
First baseman Jeffrey Arends this year played in his first season for Twins after having played for Kinheim last year.
Earlier, Arends also played in the big league for Neptunus.
Next season, he will play for Vaessen Pioniers.
In his lone season with the Twins, he was the leading hitter of the team with a .303 batting average (43-for-142), scored 22 runs, batted in 24 and walked 31 times.
With his 22 runs, Arends shared the team's lead with Jarreau Martina, while his RBI's were second best.
Arends also led the team in slugging average (.408) and on-base average (.441), basehits (43, with Berry van Donselaar), doubles (9) and homeruns (2, with two others).
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 Curaçao Neptunus next season as a back-up catcher, who can be inserted when needed.
Berry van Donselaar was the third best hitter this season for Twins, hitting .293 (43-for-147) with five doubles, one triple and two homeruns.
He scored 17 runs and batted in 25.
Van Donselaar led Twins with his 25 RBI's and shared the team-lead with two homeruns.
Next season, Van Donselaar will play for Euro Stars in the second highest league ('Overgangsklasse').
Infielder Shurty Tremus was the fifth best hitter for Twins with his .186 batting average (21-for-113).
Tremus, who has retired, scored 14 runs, batted in eight and led the team with 23 walks.
Pitcher Elton Koeiman threw in 13 games this season 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.
Next season, he will be the Pitching Coach of Curaçao Neptunus, but also will be one of their pitchers.
Righthanded pitcher Ben Van Nuffel and catcher Stijn Janssens are returning to Belgium.
Janssens batted .295 (13-for-44) in 23 games.
He scored nine runs and batted in eight, while walking 15 times.
Van Nuffel pitched in 19 games, two of them as starter.
The righthander was 1-5 and struckout 28 batters in 36 innings, but also walked 38 batters.
Japanese righthanded pitcher Keiji Uezono also will not be back with the team next season.
Uezono arrived in May in Oosterhout and also was scheduled to pitch for Amsterdam Baseball, which was to be the Dutch representative in the inaugural season of Euro League Baseball.
However, all kinds of discussions followed regarding the eligibility of players to play in this league and also during European tournaments of the European Baseball Confederation.
Because of this, L&D Amsterdam Pirates, which was to have several players in the ELB-team, decided to withdraw its players and coaches.
Shortly thereafter, all games of Amsterdam Baseball in the ELB were cancelled.
Before coming to the Netherlands, Uezono played professional baseball, including some seasons at the highest level in Japan.
Recently, Uezono has been named Manager of Shiga United, which next year will play in its first season in the Route Inn Baseball Challenge League (Bēsubōru Charenji Rīgu), which is an semi-professional Independent League that was founded in 2007.
In his lone season in the Netherlands, Uezono pitched in nine games (seven starts) during the regular season.
The righthander was 4-1 and led tht pitching-staff of Twins with an 1.68 ERA.
Uezono struckout 45 batters in 59 innings and gave up 37 basehits and only 12 runs, while walking 16.
In the following Play-Downs, Uezo was 2-0 and pitched in three games (one complete), striking out 16 batters in 25 innings, while walking only two and giving up only four runs.
...Ben Van Nuffel... | 
...Shurty Tremus... | 
...Stijn Janssens... |
| (© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) | (© Photo: Robert Bos) |
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Copyright © 1997-2016 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
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