(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Freek Bouw)
 Orange-roster for European Championship announced; five professionals added
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
On Wednesday (September 7), Steve Janssen, Manager of the Netherlands Kingdom Team, has announced his 24-man roster for the upcoming European Championship, which opens next Friday in Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep.
Tonight, the team will play one final game in preparation of the event, meeting France at the site of Pickles UVV in Vleuten, starting at 7 PM.
Last Sunday, the Orange squad closed the France International Baseball Tournament - Yoshida Challenge in Lieusaint-Sénart (France) with a 5-3 victory against Germany in the final to win the event for the second time.
The Dutch Team also won the tournament in 2014.
After completion of the event, Janssen had to make some decisions regarding his roster for the European Championship in which the Netherlands will begin as defending champion.
The squad re-captured the title two years ago in the Czech Republic after it had been left empty-handed in the previous two Championships in 2012 (in the Netherlands) and 2010 (in Germany).
The Netherlands then lost the final both times against Italy.
On the roster for the European Championship, five active professional players have been added.
Two of them have Major League-experience, being pitcher Shairon Martis and outfielder Roger Bernadina.
The other three are catcher Chad Tromp, 1B Curt Smith and infielder Stijn van der Meer.
With the addition of these five, it means that five players who were with the team in France were dropped from the roster.
They are pitcher Bayron Cornelisse and outfielder Christian Diaz (both Curaçao Neptunus), catcher Sander Paap and infielder Kevin Moesquit (both Kinheim) and outfielder Gilmer Lampe (L&D Amsterdam Pirates).
In the regular season of the Dutch big league, Diaz had been the leading hitter for the second conscutive year.
He batted .431 last year and .382 this season.
Before the start of the tournament in France another roster-move was made, as pitcher Jim Ploeger (HCAW) took the spot Tom Stuifbergen (Kinheim).
Stuifbergen is unable to be with the team due to an injury.
...Roger Bernadina...
(© Photo: Phrake Photography/Freek Bouw) |
32-year old Roger Bernadina is one of the most experienced players of the Orange roster.
The outfielder has played in 548 Major League-games in the period 2008-2014.
Bernadina made his Major League-debut in 2008 with the Washington Nationals, for whom he also played in the following five years.
He became a regular for the Nationals in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
During the 2013 season, he was released and then signed by the Philadelphia Phillies, where he completed the season.
In 2014, Bernadina played for both the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers.
After completion of the 2014 season, the outfielder became a Free Agent and was signed by the Colorado Rockies, but didn't play for that team in the Majors.
He again became a Free Agent after the 2015 and this time, in February of this year, Bernadina was signed by the New York Mets, but also wasn't added to the big league-squad of that organization.
In both 2015 and this year, he only played at the Triple-A level.
This season, he batted .292 (113-for-387) with ten homeruns, 65 runs scored and 55 runs batted in for the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A team of the Mets.
Bernadina earlier participated with the Orange squad in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Righthanded pitcher Shairon Martis has pitched in 26 Major League-games.
He first pitched for Washington Nationals in 2008 and 2009, then made his comeback in the big league in 2013, when he appeared in six games of the Minnesota Twins.
Martis was 6-7 and struckout 64 batters.
Martis, who plays professionally since 2005, also has played in the organizations of the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates, as well as in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Taiwan.
This season, he pitched for Lincoln Saltdogs in an Independent League where he was a teammate of Curt Smith.
Martis was 9-8 with one save, a 3.34 ERA and 93 strikeouts.
Martis has been a frequent member of the Netherlands squad since 2006.
He played for the team in the 2006 and 2013 World Baseball Classic, the 2008 Olympic Games, as well as the European Championship in 2007 and 2012.
In 2011, he was a member of the successful squad that captured the World Championship-title and last year, he participated in the Premier12.
...Chad Tromp...
(© Phrake Photography/Freek Bouw) |
21-year old catcher Chad Tromp this season played for Daytona Tortugas, which is a Minor League-team of the Cincinnati Reds and plays at the Single-A Advanced level.
There, he batted .215 with eight homeruns, scored 29 runs and batted in 38.
Tromp plays professionally since 2013 and he will make his debut in the Netherlands Kingdom Team.
First baseman Curt Smith also is a veteran on the roster and has played for the Netherlands squad in several big tournaments.
He plays professionally since 2008 and has mostly played in Minor League-teams of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Smith last played in the Minor League in 2014.
The last two seasons, he played for Lincoln Saltdogs in the American Association, which is an Independent League.
This year, Smith batted .331 with 17 doubles and 17 homeruns, scored 50 runs and batted in 60.
Last winter, Smith also played in the professional league of Nicaragua.
Like Martis, Smith has been a longtime member of the Orange Team.
He played in almost all big tournaments since 2009, including the 2011 World Championship, which was won by the Netherlands.
Smith also played on the previous two European Championships for the team, as well as the World Baseball Classic in 2009 and 2013.
Last year, Smith also played in the Premier12.
Infielder Stijn van der Meer completed his college-career this year and then returned home to the Netherlands to join and play for Curaçao Neptunus.
He participated with the team in the European Champions Cup in Italy, but there, Neptunus was dethroned by L&D Amsterdam Pirates and ended up in fourth place.
Early June, Van der Meer was drafted by the Houston Astros and went on to sign with the club.
In July, he participated with the Netherlands Team in the Baseball Week Haarlem and afterwards traveled to the USA to make his professional debut.
In the organization of the Astros, Van der Meer played in 21 games at the Rookie League-level and batted .329 with 13 runs scored and 10 runs batted in.
Since 2012, Van der Meer has played in several tournaments for the Dutch Team.
The Netherlands Team opens the European Championship coming Friday in Pool A against Great Britain, starting at 7 PM.
The Orange squad will play all its games in the main stadium of the complex in Hoofddorp.
In following days, the Kingdom Team meets respectively Germany (Saturday, 7 PM), Russia (Sunday, 3 PM), Czech Republic (Monday, 7 PM) and Sweden (Tuesday, 7 PM).
The top-3 of each pool then continues with the Championship Round on Thursday (September 15).
The two numbers four meet each other in the game for seventh and eight place on Wednesday (September 14).
The other teams open a pool on Thursday for places 9 through 12.
The two best teams of the Championship Pool will face each other in the Final on Sunday, September 18, starting at 5 PM.
Complete Schedule
The roster for the European Championship looks as follows:
Pitchers (11):
Tom de Blok, Rob Cordemans (both L&D Amsterdam Pirates), Mike Bolsenbroek (Buchbinder Regensburg Legionäre, Germany), Berry van Driel, Kevin Kelly, Diegomar Markwell, Loek van Mil, Orlando Yntema (all Curaçao Neptunus), Lars Huijer (Vaessen Pioniers), Shairon Martis (Lincoln Saltdogs, Indep. League, USA) and Jim Ploeger (HCAW).
Catchers (3):
Gianison Boekhoudt, Dashenko Ricardo (both Curaçao Neptunus) and Chad Tromp (Daytona Tortugas, Single-A, Cincinnati Reds-org., USA).
Infielders (6):
Dwayne Kemp (Curaçao Neptunus), Dudley Leonora (Kinheim), Stijn van der Meer (Greenville Astros, Rookie League, Houston Astros-org., USA), Curt Smith (Lincoln Saltdogs, Indep. League, USA), Nick Urbanus (L&D Amsterdam Pirates) and Yurendell de Caster (no team).
Outfielders (4):
Roger Bernadina (Las Vegas 51s, Triple-A, New York Mets-org., USA), Randolph Oduber (Curaçao Neptunus), Christoper Garia (Vaessen Pioniers) and Kalian Sams (Capitales de Québec, Indep. League, Canada).
Coaching Staff:
Steve Janssen (Manager), Andruw Jones (Bench Coach), Wim Martinus (1B Coach), Ben Thijssen (3B Coach), Mike Hartley (Pitching Coach), Sidney de Jong (Hitting Coach).
Supporting Staff:
Pepijn van Ingen (Physical Therapist), Paul Venner (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Bernie Beckman (Scout), David Bergman (Scout).
(September 7)
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