(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo courtesy of Twins & Scimitars)
  Former pitcher of Twins & former coach of HCAW move to Germany
Nederlands
 HAAR (Germany) -
Canadian pitcher Cody Chartrand, who last year pitched for Twins in the second highest Dutch league, has agreed to play for München-Haar Disciples in the German 1.Bundesliga this season.
Also joining the team is José Baez, who has coached for several years in the Netherlands.
Their new club in Germany announced their comings in recent days.
...Cody Chartrand...
(© Photo: Twins) |
The 24-year old Cody Chartrand, who also holds a British passport, last year played for Twins, with whom he won the championship-title in the 'Overgangsklasse', the second highest league.
In the following Promotion/Relegation Series, Twins swept Mampaey The Hawks 3-0 to promote to the Dutch big league in which it will make a comeback this season.
Chartrand pitched for Vancouver Island University in Canada, but transfered to Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho (USA), where he played in the 2014 college-season.
In 13 games (seven as a starter), he was 5-0 with four saves for the Warriors, striking out 27 batters in 41 2/3 inning and finished with a 1.94 ERA.
In the following MLB Amateur Draft in June 2014, he was signed by Texas Rangers in the 36th round.
However, his professional career never began due to a shoulder injury.
While with Twins, Chartrand was mostly used as a starting pitcher, but with the Disciples, he will be used as a reliever and closer.
The club announced that the righthander will take over as closer from Lukas Steinlein, who will be in South Africa until June for study.
,,With Cody, we are sure that we have found the right man for the late innings'', said Head Coach Mitch Stephan, who also led the team in the past two years.
...José Baez...
(© Ph: Scimitars) |
Coming season, Stephan's assistant Josh Petersen, who was a playing/coach, will focus again on just playing.
He will be succeeded in the coaching staff by José Baez, who will be the team's 3B Coach and Hitting Coach.
The Dominican-born Baez played for 13 seasons for UVV in the Netherlands, where he also coached several teams through the years.
He also was a coach at the Dutch Baseball Academy Scimitars.
In 2013, Baez was the 1B Coach of HCAW in the Dutch big league in the staff of then-Head Coach Ivan Rodríguez.
Since last year, Rodríguez is the Head Coach of Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg in the German Bundesliga.
In his first season, Rodríguez led the Legionäre to the final for the German Championship-title, but lost the best-of-five series 3-2 to Heidenheim Heideköpfe.
Last season, Munich-Haar Disciples was 18-10 and finished in third place in the 1.Bundesliga Süd.
The squad then lost the Quarterfinals of the Play-Offs against Solingen Alligators.
The team plays at Ballpark Eglfing in Haar, which is located 12 km east of Munich.
(February 16)
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