(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Robert Bos)
  Belgian pitcher Jace Van Droogenbroeck joins Twins
Nederlands
 OOSTERHOUT (Neth.) -
Next Tuesday is November 1, the day that the transfer-period in Dutch baseball ends.
While no big rumors are circling around at the moment, there of course will be some changes on the rosters of the eight big league-teams.
As this site has done in the past, it will publish a complete overview of all transfers after the deadline has expired.
...Jace Van Droogenbroeck pitching for Belgium...
...against the Netherlands in September during...
...the European Championship in Hoofddorp (Neth.)...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
While most clubs normally announce their transfers on November 1, sometimes names come out early.
One of them is Belgian lefthanded pitcher Jace Van Droogenbroeck, who has joined De Glaskoning Twins, which was confirmed in a Facebook-message.
Van Droogenbroeck turned 19 on September 18, which was the final day of the European Championship in which he participated with the National Team of Belgium.
The tournament was one of the most successful for Belgium in years, as it reached the Play-Offs and finished in sixth place.
During the European Championship, which was held in Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep (Netherlands), Van Droogenbroeck pitched in three games, all in relief.
He threw one scoreless and hitless inning in the opening game of Belgium against Spain, walking one batter.
Four days later, Van Droogenbroeck again threw one inning, this time against Greece.
He now struckout one batter, but also gave up one basehit (which was a lead-off double) and one (earned) run, which was scored on a wild pitch.
His last appearance came in the Championship Round against the Netherlands.
The lefthander then threw two scoreless innings as the closer for Belgium, but walked three batters.
In the regular season this year in Belgium, Van Droogenbroeck pitched in 15 games (10 starts) for Deurne Spartans.
He was 5-4 with a 4.01 ERA and struckout 51 batters in 58 1/3 inning.
He gave up only 39 basehits, but walked 66 batters.
This year, Van Droogenbroeck won the Belgian Championship-title for the second consecutive season with Deurne Spartans.
In the best-of-five Belgian Series, the Spartans won 3-2 against Borgerhout Squirrels earlier this month.
The team was led by Jace's father Frank Van Droogenbroeck, who retired after the season after having been the squad's Head Coach for a long time.
Van Droogenbroeck Sr. has been playing in the Belgian big league for a very long time himself and also has played for the Belgian National Team.
Van Droogenbroeck's new team Twins made its comeback in the highest Dutch league this year after having swept The Hawks in three games in September 2015 in the Promotion/Relegation Series.
This season, Twins had four Belgian pitchers on its roster, being Cedric Desmedt, Matthew Latta, Brian Van Gaever and Ben Van Nuffel.
Latta and Van Nuffel were with the team the entire season.
Desmedt only pitched for Twins in the first weeks of the season, appearing in seven games.
Van Gaever made his debut in June and threw in five games.
Van Nuffel threw in 19 games, including two starts, and was 1-5 with a 5.00 ERA.
Latta was used as a reliever, mostly as closer, in 21 games and was 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA.
In the Overall Standings of the regular season, Twins finished in sixth place with a 16-26 record.
Hereafter, the team secured its spot in next years big league by finishing in second place in the Play-Downs with a 4-5 record.
(October 26)
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