|
www.grand-slam.nl |
Baseball |
| Headlines |
| Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2016 by Marco Stoovelaar |
 |
(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Robert Bos)
 Nick Urbanus Most Valuable Player; Kenny Van Den Branden Best Pitcher
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
Nick Urbanus (L&D Amsterdam Pirates) is the Most Valuable Player of the 2016 season in the Dutch big league, while Belgian righthander Kenny Van Den Branden (Curaçao Neptunus) won the award for Best Pitcher.
For both, it was the first time they won these awards.
...Three generations of Most Valuable Players...
...Han Urbanus, Nick Urbanus & Charles Urbanus...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The MVP Award won by Nick Urbanus was very special, as he became the third generation of the Urbanus-family to win this award.
His grandfather Han Urbanus was the league's MVP in 1954, 1955 and 1961, while his father Charles Urbanus was the MVP in 1973 and 1986.
Now, thirty years later, Nick Urbanus wins the award.
All three played for Amsterdam-based teams.
Han Urbanus won his awards while playing for OVVO, as did Charles Urbanus his first time.
When he won his second MVP Trophy, he played for Amstel Tijgers.
And, as mentioned, Nick plays for L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
This years winners were announced tonight (Saturday, October 22) during the KNBSB Baseball Softball Stars Awards, which is the annual presentation of the awards for the best baseball- and softball-players of the past season.
Tonight, the event was held in the Lichtfabriek in Haarlem.
It marked the first time that the awards were handed out in Haarlem since 2011.
The Stars Awards gathering took place much earlier than in previous years, as the award ceremony mostly was scheduled in the months of November or December.
Last year, the awards were handed out on December 12.
The last time that the event was held this early was in 1988, when the best players were honored on October 28.
The awards have been handed out in December ten times since 2000, except for 2011 (November).
On five occassions, the awards were handed out in January of the following year.
From 1999 on backwards, November had been the months in which the awards were presented from 1989 on.
As was done in the previous two years, the Slugger also was handed out again tonight.
The Slugger is the highest recognition award of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB) and is handed out to a person (or persons), group, club or organization for promotional activities in order to promote the sport(s) of baseball and/or softball on national and/or regional level.
Two years ago, the award was handed out for the first time again since 1999.
Tonight, the Slugger went to the Foundation SoftbalDino, which was well-deserved.
Former KNBSB-Chairman Henk den Duijn and former Netherlands Softball Team-player Els Wedman-Koks (Terrasvogels) handed out the award to Cobus Oosting, the father of softball-MVP Dinet Oosting.
Both founded SoftbalDino a few years ago.
SoftbalDino makes a very nice softball-magazine, organizes clinics for clubs and schools, assists at events and does much more.
SoftbalDino also contributes to live-stream productions, which are handled by Hans Vleugels.
It streams all softball-games of FysioExpert Olympia Haarlem live during the season.
Go here for the Softball Awards
Photo Gallery of the Stars Awards Night
(October 22)
|
...Nick Urbanus...
...Most Valuable Player...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Most Valuable Player
Nick Urbanus (L&D Amsterdam Pirates) was named Most Valuable Player for the first time in his career.
In 2010, Urbanus won the Roel de Mon Award for most promising youth player.
Two years later, he was awarded the Guus van der Heijden Memorial Trophy for most talented Netherlands Team-player under the 23 years.
In that same year (2012), Urbanus played professionally in the organization of the Texas Rangers.
Urbanus batted .308 this season (53-for-172), but he led Amsterdam Pirates with 35 runs scored, 53 basehits, 34 runs batted and four homeruns.
Defensively, Urbanus, who mostly played at second base (but also at short and 3rd base) committed only four errors, resulting in a fielding average of .981.
He led the league in plate appearances (197), at bats (172) and doubles (14) and finished in fifth place with a .483 slugging average.
With all this, Urbanus had an important contribution in the success of Amsterdam Pirates, which reached the Holland Series, despite several injuries.
Urbanus is the first regular second baseman to be named MVP since 1986 when his father Charles Urbanus was the Most Valuable Player.
It was the fifth time in the last six years, that a player of Amsterdam Pirates is named Most Valuable Player.
Urbanus became the eighth player of Amsterdam Pirates, who wins the MVP Award.
It marked the tenth time that the award went to a Pirates-player, as two of them won the award twice.
| MVP's, Amsterdam Pirates |
| 1987 | Rikkert Faneyte |
| 1990 | Scott Khoury |
| 1998 | Elston Hansen |
| 1999 | Rikkert Faneyte |
| 2007 | Fausto Álvarez Rizzo |
| 2011 | Vince Rooi |
| 2012 | Rob Cordemans |
| 2013 | Bas de Jong |
| 2014 | Bas de Jong |
| 2016 | Nick Urbanus |
With 10, Amsterdam Pirates now has tied Kinheim for most MVP Awards.
The closest team hereafter is Sparta, which had eight Most Valuable Players.
Nick Urbanus was one of three players nominated for the MVP Award.
Last year, there were only two nominees.
Before that, there have been three nominated players each year since the early nineties.
The other nominees were Christian Diaz (Curaçao Neptunus) and Dudley Leonora (Kinheim).
Diaz also was nominated last year when the award was won by Dashenko Ricardo, who then played for Kinheim.
Diaz led the league with a .382 batting average and was second-best with 58 basehits.
The outfielder trailed Urbanus with 12 doubles.
Leonora finished in ninth place with a .327 batting average, but was fourth in slugging with .488.
The short stop led the league with 39 runs batted in, while collecting 53 basehits, the same as Urbanus.
|
Best Pitcher
...Kenny Van Den Branden...
...Best Pitcher...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Kenny Van Den Branden (Curaçao Neptunus) was named Best Pitcher for the first time since he plays in the Dutch big league.
Last year, Van Den Branden was nominated for the award.
Van Den Branden is the first Belgian pitcher and only the fifth foreign pitcher to win the award.
He is the first foreign pitcher to win since American Ryan Murphy (Pioniers) was Best Pitcher in 2009 and only the second foreign pitcher to win in the last 30 years.
In the period 1976-1986, three American pitchers won the award seven times.
The first foreign pitcher to win the award was Douglas Morton, who was the Best Pitcher in 1976 and 1977, while playing for Haarlem Nicols.
In 2010, Canadian Leon Boyd (Neptunus) won, but he was no foreigner, as he had the Dutch nationality while playing in the Dutch big league.
Van Den Branden, who last month participated with the National Team of Belgium in the European Championship, had an outstanding year.
The righthander led the league with an 0.62 ERA and was second in opposing batting average (.172).
He finished in fifth place with 73 strikeouts and his nine wins were second-best.
Van Den Branden was 9-0 and was the lone pitcher this season who remained unbeaten while pitching 70 or more innings.
He was second-best in the league in giving up only six runs and giving up five earned runs.
With this, a streak of five consecutive years ended in which the award was won by a pitcher of L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Last year, Rob Cordemans was named Best Pitcher for the fourth time in five years, while playing for Pirates.
For Cordemans, it was the ninth time that he won the award.
The other Amsterdam-hurler to win the award in the previous five years was Kevin Heijstek, who won in 2014.
| Best Pitchers, Neptunus |
| 1981 | Steve Donovan |
| 1987 | Harry Koster |
| 1989 | Eric de Vries |
| 1990 | Eric de Vries |
| 1996 | Geoffry Kohl |
| 1999 | Rob Cordemans |
| 2002 | Rob Cordemans |
| 2003 | Rob Cordemans |
| 2004 | Eelco Jansen |
| 2005 | Rob Cordemans |
| 2006 | Diegomar Markwell |
| 2010 | Leon Boyd |
| 2016 | Kenny Van Den Branden |
Van Den Branden is the first Neptunus-pitcher to win the award since 2010 when Leon Boyd was Best Pitcher.
He is the 13th pitcher of Neptunus to win the award.
That includes Geoffry Kohl, who the award in 1996 and nowadays the Chairman of the Board of the Rotterdam-based club.
With 13 Best Pitcher Awards, Neptunus is the leader.
Haarlem Nicols is in second place with eleven.
For the second time in history, four pitchers were nominated for the award.
The other nominees were Tom de Blok (L&D Amsterdam Pirates), Lars Huijer (Vaessen Pioniers) and Orlando Yntema (Curaçao Neptunus).
All three came close to Van Den Branden.
De Blok pitched in 26 games in relief, mostly as a closer.
The righthander was 5-0 with five saves.
He gave up only five runs and four earned runs, which both were best in the league.
De Blok also led the league in lowest opposing batting average (.153) and fewest hits allowed (21).
He finished in second place with a 0.88 ERA, which was in favor of Kenny Van Den Branden.
Huijer and Yntema both led the league with ten victories.
Huijer was 10-2, Yntema was 10-1.
Huijer finished in fourth place with an 1.19 ERA, while Yntema was fifth with 1.20.
The two also led the league in innings pitched, Huijer threw the most (98) and Yntema followed him (89.2).
Huijer led the league with 107 strikeouts.
|
Statistical Awards
| Best Hitters, Neptunus |
| 1980 | Kevin McDonald |
| 1986 | Mike Gargiulo |
| 1991 | Marcel Kruyt |
| 1992 | Eric de Bruin |
| 1997 | Marcel Kruyt |
| 2002 | Dirk van 't Klooster |
| 2005 | Dirk van 't Klooster |
| 2006 | Raily Legito |
| 2015 | Christian Diaz |
| 2016 | Christian Diaz |
Best Hitter
Christian Diaz (Curaçao Neptunus) again was the Best Hitter this season.
After hitting .431 a year ago, he now led the Dutch big league with a .382 batting average (58-for-152).
His average was .030 higher than second-best Kenny Berkenbosch (L&D Amsterdam Pirates), who closed the season with .356.
It marks the eighth time that a player wins the batting title in two (or more) consecutive seasons.
Since 2011, only three players led the league in hitting, being Dirk van 't Klooster (Kinheim, 2010-2011), Bas de Jong (Amsterdam Pirates, 2012-2014) and Christian Diaz (2015-2016).
Two years ago, De Jong became only the second player in history to win the award in three consecutive years.
The only other player to accomplish that was Hamilton Richardson (Sparta), who was the Best Hitter four years in a row (1963-1966).
It is the tenth time that a player of Neptunus is the leading hitter of the season.
Homerun King
In 2016, it again was Gianison Boekhoudt (Curaçao Neptunus), who belted the most Homeruns.
Last year, he shared the lead with Bryan Engelhardt (Kinheim), as both hit eight homeruns.
However, the award then went to Engelhardt, as he hit his homeruns in 122 at bats, while Boekhoudt needed 148.
This year, Boekhoudt led the league by his own, hitting five homeruns.
With this, Boekhoudt ended Engelhardt's streak of three consecutive years in which he was the Homerun King.
For Engelhardt, last year was his fifth time in seven seasons and eighth time overall that he led the league in homeruns.
It is the first time since 2003 that the Homerun King plays for Neptunus.
Back then, the league was led by Evert-Jan 't Hoen, who had been the Head Coach of Neptunus the last four years and led the team to four consecutive Championship-titles.
It marks the eighth time that a player of Neptunus leads the league in homeruns.
Amongst them is Jacky Jakoba, who was the Homerun King in 1983 and 1984.
He set a single-season record in both years when some fields were much smaller than nowadays.
After hitting 18 in 1983, he belted 24 homeruns a year later and that record still stands.
Most Stolen Bases
For the third time in the last four seasons, Roelie Henrique (HCAW) led the league in Stolen Bases.
He also stole the most bases in 2013 and 2014, while playing for L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Last year, the award went to Gilmer Lampe, who then played for UVV.
Henrique led the league this season with 21 stolen bases.
He became the only the fourth player of HCAW to lead this category since 1974.
Back then, Arnold Smith stole the most bases, as he did in the next season.
33 years later, the next HCAW-player stole the most bases, being Jermaine Esprit.
The last HCAW-player to lead the Dutch big league in stolen bases was Kody Hightower, who did it in 2012.
...Christian Diaz...
...Best Hitter... | 
...Gianison Boekhoudt...
...Most Homeruns... | 
...Roelie Henrique...
...Most Stolen Bases... |
| (© Photos: Henk Seppen) |
|
Other Awards
...Dwayne Kemp...
...Holland Series MVP...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Most Valuable Player Holland Series
The winner of this award already was announced after completion of the final game of the Holland Series.
For the first time, the award also was handed out on the same day after the game during the award ceremony for the Dutch champion.
In previous years, the award was handed out during the Stars Awards, as part of the other award-presentations.
This year, the award went to Dwayne Kemp, who played an important role for Curaçao Neptunus capturing its fourth consecutive championship-title.
...Tom de Blok...
...Guus van der Heijden Memorial...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Guus van der Heijden Memorial Trophy
The winner of this award is for the most talented baseball-international under 23, who plays for the Netherlands National Team.
In the past that was combined when a player also showed good accomplishments in the Dutch big league.
But in recent years, the award was handed out National Team-player, who are also active in professional baseball-teams.
The award is named after Guus van der Heijden, the longtime baseball-executive and former President of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Association (KNBSB).
The trophy was won this year by reliever Tom de Blok of L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Last year, De Blok won the Roel de Mon Award for most talented youth pitcher.
Besides having fine outings for his club-team, De Blok also had good performances for the Netherlands National Team.
With the Orange squad, De Blok this year won the Baseball Week Haarlem, the France International Baseball Tournament Yoshida Challenge and the European Championship.
While the trophy is handed out to a player of the Netherlands National Team, it marks the fifth time that this award is won by a player, who is associated with Amsterdam Pirates.
Wismar Ansjeliena was the first in 1989.
He was followed by Rikkert Faneyte (1990), Pim Walsma (2008) and Nick Urbanus (2012).
The latter played professionally that year it the organization of the Texas Rangers, but also was listed on the roster for Amsterdam Pirates.
After completion of his professional season, he returned to Amsterdam and was eligible to play for Amsterdam Pirates in the postseason, but didn't play for the team.
...Donny Breek...
...Roel de Mon Award...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
Roel de Mon Award
This award is handed out annually to the most talented youth pitcher of the year.
The award is named after legendary pitcher Roel de Mon, who in 1943 set a single-season record with 235 strikeouts.
De Mon, who once averaged 15 strikeouts per game in a four-year period, played for Schoten and SC Haarlem, as well as in the national team.
This year, the award was handed out to Donny Breek of DSS.
This season, Breek made his debut in the Dutch big league and was 2-8 with a 7.51 ERA.
The righthander also pitched for the Netherlands AAA Team (Dutch Juniors Team), with whom he won the European Junior Championship in July of this year in Spain.
Breek pitched in two games and was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA, while striking out 15 batters in 13 innings and walking only two and giving up only three runs.
It marks the only the second time that a pitcher of DSS wins the Roel de Mon Award.
The only other was Robin van Doornspeek, who won in 1998.
...Oliver van der Wijst Severino...
...Ron Fraser Award...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
Ron Fraser Award
This award is handed out to the most promising youth-player.
The award is named after Ron Fraser, who was the first American Head Coach of the Netherlands National Baseball Team.
He guided the Orange squad to three European Championship-titles.
This year the award went to Oliver van der Wijst Severino (Kinheim).
The infielder (he mostly played at third base) played in his first full season in the big league and batted .173 in 27 games.
Van der Wijst also played for the Netherlands AAA Team.
With the Orange Junior-squad, he won the European Junior Championship in Spain and led the team with a .500 batting average (12-for-24).
He also also led in runs scored (11) and basehits (12) and was second-best with seven runs batted in.
Van der Wijst is the eighth player of Kinheim to win the Ron Fraser Award.
The others are Gerlach Halderman (1978), Peter van Dalen (1980), Michael Halderman (1983), Lars Koehorst (1987), Patrick Beljaards (1995), Gregory Halman (2004) and Björn Hato (2009).
...Eric de Bruin...
...Leen Volkerijk Award...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Leen Volkerijk Award
This award is handed out annually to a person who has had many contributions to the development of (young) players.
The award is named after Leen Volkerijk, a longtime baseball-coach, who also served as (pitching) coach of the Netherlands National Team and himself was active for many years in the development of young players.
This year the award went to former big league- and National Team-player Eric de Bruin, who as outfielder/first baseman played for Sparta and Neptunus.
In recent years, De Bruin is the Manager of the Netherlands AAA-Team (Dutch Juniors).
In July, in Spain, the Orange squad captured the title at the European Junior Championship.
Besides coaching the National Junior Team, De Bruin has been associated with the development of youth players for many years now, either as a coach or instructor.
...Charles Urbanus...
...Coach of the Year...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Coach of the Year
This award was won this year by Charles Urbanus, the Head Coach of L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
This season, Amsterdam Pirates dethroned Curaçao Neptunus as Cupholder in the European Champions Cup-tournament in Italy and San Marino.
A day later, Amsterdam Pirates captured the European Cup themselves.
Hereafter, in the remainder of the season, Amsterdam Pirates stayed in the top of the league-ranking, despite having several (severe) injuries.
It had to do without veteran-ace Rob Cordemans since the start of the season.
In the European Cup Final, it lost another pitching ace, Kevin Heijstek, who was out for the season with a severe hamsting-injury.
In following weeks, two more pitchers, Kyle Ward and Dennis Burgersdijk, were sidelined for several weeks with injuries.
Despite all these injuries, Amsterdam Pirates played a fine Play-Offs and qualified for the Holland Series.
In the best-of-seven Championship Final, it played a great Series against Neptunus, which won the title.
Four of the six games ended with an one-run difference and Amsterdam twice win in extra innings.
It was the third time that the award went to a coach of Amsterdam Pirates.
In 1987, Ted Arnold was the first after leading the team to its first-ever Dutch Championship-title after winning the first-ever Holland Series against Neptunus.
The second Pirates-coach to win the award was Rikkert Faneyte in 2008, who then also led the team to a title.
For Urbanus, this was his third Coach of the Year Award.
He also won in 1991 and 1993 when he won the Championship-title with Neptunus.
In 1993, he shared the award with Jan-Dick Leurs, who then was the Manager of the Netherlands Baseball Team and in that year led the Orange squad to the European title in Stockholm (Sweden) for the first time since 1987.
...Sidney de Jong...
...Bill Arce Award...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Bill Arce Award
This award was introduced a few years ago for the Most Promising Coach to not only recognize his accomplishments, but also to stimulate him to develop more.
The award is named after American baseball-ambassador Bill Arce, who had a long association with Dutch baseball.
Arce coached the national team, participated with teams in the Haarlem Baseball Week and organized many clinics.
Bill Arce passed away on March 7 of this year at age 90.
This year, the award went to Sidney de Jong, who since a few years is the Hitting Coach of the Netherlands National Team.
De Jong was the Head Coach of L&D Amsterdam Pirates in 2013, then became a member of the Orange-coachingstaff shortly thereafter.
This year, the national squad won three international events, including the European Championship.
|
Thank you for visiting this site.
Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl
Copyright © 1997-2016 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.
|
|
