(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Tom Stuifbergen & Roelie Henrique return to Amsterdam Pirates
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
Two veteran players are returning to L&D Amsterdam Pirates, as the club has confirmed that righthanded pitcher Tom Stuifbergen and infielder/outfielder Roelie Henrique will play again for the team next season.
This year, Stuifbergen pitched for Haarlem-based DSS, while Henrique played for Bussum-based HCAW.
Both DSS and HCAW also have confirmed the transfers.
Stuifbergen returns to Amsterdam after 13 years, while Henrique last played for the team in 2015.
The official transfer-period ends today, as November 15 is the new deadline-date in both baseball and softball.
In previous years, the period ended on November 1 for baseball and December 1 for softball.
Tonight, on the final evening of the transfer-period, Grand Slam * Stats & News traditionally will publish all transfers in both the highest baseball- and softball league.
Next season, Amsterdam Pirates will be led by new Head Coach Brian Finnegan, who succeeded Charles Urbanus on October 20.
Urbanus led the team since 2014, but it was not possible for him at the moment to combine coaching with his regular job and so, he stepped down after the season.
This year, Amsterdam Pirates finished in second place in the regular season with a 32-9 record and one tie.
In the following Championship Pool, Amsterdam finished in first place with an 8-1 record to qualify again for the Holland Series.
In the Championship-Final, Amsterdam faced Curaçao Neptunus, who had reached the Series by finishing in first place in the regular season.
With that, both teams also qualified again for participation in next years European Championship Cup-tournament.
In the Holland Series, Neptunus won 4-2 to win its sixth consecutive title.
In the past two seasons, the 30-year old Tom Stuifbergen was partly sidelined with an injury.
This year, in the first four series of the season, the righthander started in four games for DSS, the last on May 19.
Thereafter, he made a relief appearance on June 7, striking out two batters in 2/3 inning to close the game against against Silicon Storks.
In the following weeks, Stuifbergen recovered from his injury and returned to the mound on August 11, throwing one inning in relief against Quick Amersfoort.
With that, he was back in time to pitch again for DSS in the Relegation Pool, as well as for the Netherlands National Team in the Super 6 Baseball Softball in Hoofddorp (Netherlands).
In the regular season, the righthander appeared in six games (four starts) and was 1-0, striking out 19 batters in 24 1/3 inning.
He walked five batters and gave up only three earned runs, which gave him an 1.11 ERA.
In the Relegation Pool, Stuifbergen pitched in four games (two starts) and was 0-0 with an 0.00 ERA.
In six innings, he struckout nine batters, walked only one and also gave up only one basehit and no runs.
Last year, Stuifbergen also was bothered by an injury, which limited him to only one appearance in the regular season for DSS, where he also served as the team's Pitching Coach.
He then pitched in three games in the Relegation Pool and was 1-0 with 11 strikeouts in six innings.
Before coming to DSS, Stuifbergen pitched in three seasons for Kinheim (2014-2016).
Tom Stuifbergen first played for Amsterdam Pirates in 2005 and 2006, making his big league-debut playing for the Amsterdam-club.
Hereafter, he played professionally in the organization of the Minnesota Twins in 2007-2013, missing the entire 2008 season due to an injury.
In his six Minor League-seasons, Stuifbergen played at all levels.
He reached Triple-A in 2011, pitching in one game for Rochester Red Wings and was the winning pitcher, striking out five batters in five innings.
In 2013, his last professional season, Stuifbergen pitched in both Single-A (Advanced) and Double-A, winning five games and striking out 48 batters.
After the season, Stuifbergen became a Free Agent and decided to return to the Netherlands.
Tom Stuifbergen doesn't give up many runs, which gives him a low ERA.
And he is known for his passionate way of pitching when he is on the mound.
Roelie Henrique played for HCAW in the past three seasons.
He made his big league-debut playing for Amsterdam Pirates in 2010.
Since then, he played for the Amsterdam-club, playing at second base, short stop and in the outfield.
He also frequently was the lead-off hitter for both Amsterdam and HCAW.
In 2011, Henrique was the fourth-best hitter of Amsterdam with a .291 batting average behind Vince Rooi, Bas de Jong and Sidney de Jong and was second-best with 38 run scored.
With Amsterdam, he won the Championship-title that year.
After the 2015 season, the speedy Henrique transfered to HCAW.
There, he was the leading hitter of the team in each of the three seasons he played in Bussum.
Henrique batted a career high .353 in 2016, then batted .306 last year and .352 this season.
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...Tom Stuifbergen & Roelie Henrique in action...
...for the Netherlands National Team...
(© Both Photos: Henk Seppen) |
Henrique is not only a solid contact-hitter with power, he also scores a lot of runs and steals a lot of bases.
Since 2010, he scored 25 or more runs six times.
He collected 35 or more basehits in eight of the nine seasons since then, highlighted by a total of 60 in 2016.
Henrique stole 14 or more bases seven times, including four seasons with 20 or more.
With 21, Henrique led the league in stolen bases this season.
It marked the fourth time in six years that he leads the highest division in stolen bases.
Both Stuifbergen and Henrique played for the Netherlands National Team this year.
As mentioned, Stuifbergen was one of the pitchers of the Orange-squad during the first edition of the Super 6 Baseball Softball in September in Hoofddorp (Netherlands).
Henrique participated with the Netherlands in the Baseball Week Haarlem in July.
Stuifbergen has pitched for the Netherlands Team annually since 2006, except for 2008 when he was injured.
In these years, Stuifbergen particpated in three World Baseball Classic (2009, 2013, 2017) and he also pitched for the team when it captured the title at the World Championship in 2011 in Panama.
He also participated in the 2009 World Championship.
Amongst his other tournaments are the Premier12 in 2015, two Intercontinental Cups, two European Championships and two Haarlem Baseball Weeks.
Henrique earlier played for the National Team in 2011 and 2013.
In both years, he participated in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam (Netherlands).
(November 15)
Related Articles:
 Brian Finnegan new Head Coach Amsterdam Pirates. (October 20)
Charles Urbanus steps down as Head Coach Amsterdam Pirates. (October 7)
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