(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Netherlands Under-23 roster announced for European Championship
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Manager Sidney de Jong and his coaching-staff have named 20 players to the roster of the Netherlands Under-23 National Team for the upcoming European Championship.
The first-ever European Championship in this age-category opens next Monday (August 7) in three different countries with sixteen participating national teams.
In the preliminary round, there are four pools of four teams each.
The Netherlands plays in Pool A and meets Belarus, Russia and Croatia.
The games in this pool will be played in Brno and Blansko (Czech Republic).
Playing in Pool B are Austria, Great Gritain, Poland and Spain, who will play their games in Wels, which is located in the north of Austria.
France, Georgia, Germany and Slovakia meet in Pool C, which will be played in Trnava (Slovakia).
Brno and Blansko also will be the playing sites for the games in Pool D, which is formed by Belgium, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Ukraine.
On Thursday (August 10), the Second Round begins.
All games then will be played in Brno and Blansko.
The final will be played on August 13 in Brno.
Thirteen of the 20 selected players are playing in the Dutch big league, three others play in the second highest league ('Overgangsklasse'), being pitcher Colin van Laar (Quick Amersfoort) and infielders Kendrick Delima (Rotterdam Orioles) and Jelle Kroft (Onze Gezellen).
They will be joined by four players, who all play in the Curaçao-competition, but come from three different islands.
These four players are pitcher Ross Ismail (Aruba), pitcher Kenny Locadia, outfielder Dennis Gustina (both Curaçao) and outfielder Denzel Richardson (Saint Martin).
Last month, Ismail, Gustina and Richardson participated with the team of Curaçao in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam.
Five players have some professional experience, being pitcher Ross Ismail (Rookie League, Cincinnati Reds, 2014-2015; Dominican Summer League, 2016), catcher Rodney Daal (Rookie League/Single-A, San Diego Padres, 2011-2014; Independent League, 2015), infielder Ruar Verkerk (Rookie League, Minnesota Twins, 2014-2015) and outfielders Rachid Engelhardt (Rookie League, Baltimore Orioles, 2014-2016) and Denzel Richardson (Rookie League/Single-A, Colorado Rockies, 2012-2015; Independent League, 2016).
Daal played in one game at the Triple-A level in 2011.
Angela, Timmermans, Clarijs, Delima, Draijer and Peels all participated with the Netherlands Baseball Team in the World Port Tournament last month.
Nine young, talented players were then added to the squad to give them an opportunity to gain more international experience.
It was said that this was done to look ahead into the future with the European Championship and Olympic Games on the agenda in respectively 2019 and 2020.
In Rotterdam, the Netherlands Team was led by Manager Sidney de Jong, who then made his debut as Orange-Manager.
With this, he also got an opportunity to do some preparations for the upcoming Championship, as were coaches Evert-Jan 't Hoen and Eugene Kingsale.
The roster looks as follows:
Pitchers (8):
Tim Halderman (DSS), Jerremyh Angela (Pickles UVV), Ross Ismail (Royal Scorpions, Curaçao), Nick Keur, Maickel Rietel (both Hoofddorp Pioniers), Colin van Laan (Quick Amersfoort), Kenny Locadia (Wild Cats, Curaçao) and Kaj Timmermans (HCAW).
Catchers (2):
Max Clarijs (L&D Amsterdam Pirates) and Rodney Daal (Pickles UVV).
Infielders (6):
Jelle Blaauw (Pickles UVV), Kendrick Delima (Rotterdam Orioles), Max Draijer (Hoofddorp Pioniers), Jelle Kroft (Onze Gezellen), Delano Selassa (HCAW) and Ruar Verkerk (Curaçao Neptunus).
Outfielders (4):
Rachid Engelhardt (HCAW), Dennis Gustina (Santa Maria Pirates, Curaçao), Nick Peels (De Glaskoning Twins) and Denzel Richardson (Santa Rosa Indians, Curaçao).
Coaching Staff:
Sidney de Jong (Manager), Evert-Jan 't Hoen (Bench Coach/3B Coach), Eugene Kingsale (1B Coach), Rob Cordemans (Pitching Coach).
Supporting Staff:
Frank Sprengers (Strength & Conditioning), Jaap Visser (Equipment Manager), Greta Schouten (Team Manager), David Bergman (Scout).
(August 3)
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