(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Balentien & Jurrjens in Orange squad in World Baseball Classic
Nederlands
 NIEUWEGEIN (Neth.) -
Powerhitter Wladimir Balentien and pitcher Jair Jurrjens will participate in the Netherlands Kingdom Team during the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
The fourth edition of the global event opens on March 6 in South Korean capital Seoul.
Earlier, it already was announced that Major Leaguers Xander Bogaerts (Boston Red Sox), Didi Gregorius (New York Yankees), Jurickson Profar (Texas Rangers), Jonathan Schoop (Baltimore Orioles) and Andrelton Simmons (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) and former Major Leaguer Rick van den Hurk had all agreed to play for the Netherlands National Team during the event.
Last year, Van den Hurk completed his fourth season in Asia.
After two years in South Korea, he played the next two in Japan.
Balentien and Jurrjens also have played in the Major League.
With these latest additions, Manager Hensley Meulens has at least eight players in his team with Major League-experience.
Outfielder/DH Wladimir Balentien played in 170 Major League-games (15 homeruns) for Seattle Mariners (2007-2009) and Cincinnati Reds (2009), but plays for Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball since 2011.
Balentien, nicknamed 'Coco', became a popular player in Japan, where he played in 635 games and hit 185 homeruns.
In the 2013 season, Balentien broke the single-season homerun-record of legendary Sadaharu Oh by hitting 60 homeruns, a record that was long considered 'unbreakable'.
...Wladimir Balentien also played for the Orange...
...squad in the 2013 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Balentien made his debut in the Netherlands Team in 2004 when the Orange squad participated in the Olympic Games in Athens (Greece).
The outfielder also played for the team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, when the Netherlands reached the Semi-Final, and the 2015 Premier12.
Righthanded pitcher Jair Jurrjens played in the Major League for Detroit Tigers (2007), Atlanta Braves (2008-2012), Baltimore Orioles (2013) and Colorado Rockies (2014).
In 2011, he pitched in the Major League All Star Game.
In his eight Major League-seasons, Jurrjens was 53-38 with 514 strikeouts.
Last year, Jurrjens pitched in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (Taiwan) for Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.
Jurrjens first played for the Netherlands National Team in the first edition of the World Baseball Classic in 2006.
He then returned in the Orange squad during the Premier12 in 2015 and also pitched for the team in last years Samurai Games in and against Japan.
The definitive roster for the World Baseball Classic will be announced shortly.
Coming Saturday, a group of players (including non-selected players) will travel to Arizona (USA) for a trainingcamp to prepare for the Classic.
Jurrjens will join the team there.
Balentien is in Spring Training with the Swallows for the upcoming season and will join the Netherlands squad in South Korea.
In the First Round of the Classic, the Netherlands will play in Pool A.
The games in that pool will be played in South Korean capital Seoul, where the first game will be played on March 6.
The Netherlands will play its first game the next day against host South Korea, followed by games against Chinese Taipei and Israel.
The two best teams of this pool will advance to the Second Round, which will be played in Tokyo (Japan).
(February 6)
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