(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Neptunus adds Yurendell de Caster to roster
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus again has added a new player to its active big league-roster per June 9.
Infielder Yurendell de Caster is the newest addition of the Rotterdam-squad and he will be eligible to play from June 12 on.
While he is currently listed on the big league-roster of the club, Neptunus has not yet announced the addition officially.
It marks the fifth time in just over a month that the roster of Neptunus will be expanded.
Righthanded pitcher Loek van Mil returned to the team after being released in late April by the Minnesota Twins, where he had started the season in Triple-A.
Van Mil was with the Neptunus for the first time this season on May 7.
Five days later, on May 12, catcher Shadrach Meulens was with the team for the first time.
On May 21, it was announced that outfielder Randolph Oduber was added to the team.
Oduber was released early April by the Washington Nationals.
He arrived three days later and first played on May 26.
In the weekend of May 28-29, infielder Stijn van der Meer returned from the USA after having completed his college-season there.
He returned just in time to travel with Neptunus to Italy for the European Champions Cup, where the team finished in fourth place.
Last Thursday, he played in his first regular season-game of the year for the Rotterdam-squad.
The 36-year old, Curaçao-born De Caster plays professionally since 1998.
In that year, he made his debut playing in the Rookie League for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
He played three years in the Tampa Bay-organization, then played in minor league-teams of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2001 on.
With the Pirates, De Caster promoted from Single-A to Triple-A.
In 2005 and 2006, he played at the Triple-A level.
In May 2006, he was recalled to be with the Major League-squad of Pittsburgh.
On May 21, 2006, De Caster made his Major League-debut when he was used as a pinch-runner in an interleague-game against Cleveland Indians.
Two weeks later, he was used in two more games, both against the Colorado Rockies and both as a pinch-hitter.
De Caster struckout both times.
These were to be his lone Major League at bats and he was released by the Pirates in December 2006.
He re-signed with Pittsburgh thereafter, spending 2007 in Triple-A.
That was also the year in which he played his first season in Venezuela.
De Caster was signed by the Washington Nationals hereafter in 2008, playing in Double-A and Triple-A.
In 2009, he played 53 games in Triple-A for the New York Yankees.
This was to be his last season in which he was associated to a Major League-club.
From 2009 on, De Caster played in Independent Leagues, but mostly played for several professional teams in México.
Last winter, he also played (again) professionally in Nicaragua.
In January of this year, De Caster won the Championship-title in Nicaragua with Gigantes de Rivas.
Later that month, he also captured the title with Gigantes in the Serie Latinoamericana.
De Caster has participated in all three editions of the World Baseball Classic (2006, 2009, 2013) with the Netherlands Kingdom Team.
During the third edition, the Orange squad reached the semi-finals.
The infielder also was with the team when it captured the European Championship-title in 2014 and participated with the team during the World Championship in 2009 and the Premier12 last November in Taiwan.
(June 11)
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