(Story & Photo by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Andruw Jones added to coaching-staff Netherlands Team for European Championship
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Former Major League-outfielder Andruw Jones has been added to the coaching staff of the Netherlands Kingdom Team for the upcoming European Championship, which will be held September 9-18 in Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep in the Netherlands.
Jones has been named Bench Coach in the staff of Manager Steve Janssen.
...Andruw Jones...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In November last year, Jones played in his last game for the Orange squad during the Premier12 in Taiwan.
During that event, he already served as a mentor for the group of players.
He will be doing that again during the European Championship, but also will assist Janssen with advice.
Early March of this year, Jones was named Special Assistant Baseball Operations by the Atlanta Braves.
In that position, he works with young outfielders within the organization, assisting and instructing them during the season.
Andruw Jones played in the Major League for 17 seasons, including the first twelve of them with the Atlanta Braves (1996-2007), where he became the star-centerfielder.
Jones went on to win ten consecutive Gold Gloves and played in five All Star Games.
In 2005, he finished in second place in the voting for Most Valuable Player in the National League when he hit a club-record 51 homeruns.
With the Braves, Jones won ten Division-titles.
During the 1996 World Series, Jones homered in his first two at bats, becoming the youngest player to homer in the World Series, breaking the record of legendary Mickey Mantle.
From 2008 on, Jones played for Los Angeles Dodgers (2008), Texas Rangers (2009), Chicago White Sox (2010) and New York Yankees (2011-2012).
Hereafter, the Curaçao-born Jones played for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (2013-2014) in the Japanese professional league.
With the Golden Eagles, Jones won the Japanese championship-title in 2013.
With the Netherlands Kingdom Team, Jones, who was elected into the Braves Hall of Fame in February, also participated in the 2006 and 2013 World Baseball Classic.
In 2013, the Orange squad reached the semi-finals.
During the European Championship, Janssen and Jones will be joined in the coaching-staff by Wim Martinus (1B Coach), Ben Thijssen (3B Coach), Mike Hartley (Pitching Coach) and Sidney de Jong (Hitting Coach).
The Orange Team will open the Championship in Friday, September 9 against Great Britain.
In the following days, the team meets Germany, Russia, Czech Republic and Sweden in the preliminary round.
(August 3)
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