(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Neptunus)
 Neptunus adds John Polonius to roster for next season
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
A few days after being dethroned as Dutch Champion, Curaçao Neptunus has made its first move towards the 2020 season, as it has come to an agreement with infielder John Polonius, the club announced on Saturday (September 7).
Polonius played professionally for seven seasons until last year.
This season, he played for UnipolSai Fortitudo Bologna in Italy with whom he won the Championship-title and won the European Champions Cup.
On Friday, Polonius was one of the players named to the roster of the Netherlands Baseball Team for the European Championship, which opens on Saturday in Germany.
The Netherlands Team left for Germany on Thursday-evening.
...Neptunus Head Coach Ronald Jaarsma welcomes...
...John Polonius to the team for 2020...
(© Photo: Neptunus) |
Last Sunday, Neptunus was dethroned as Dutch Champion by L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Neptunus won the first three games of the best-of-seven Holland Series and appeared to be en route to its seventh consecutive and 20th overall title.
However, Amsterdam accomplished a historic comeback and won the next four games to win the Championship.
It was the first time in history that a team won the title after trailing 3-0.
The 28-year old, Curaçao-born, John Polonius was signed on June 26, 2012 by San Francisco Gianst.
Three weeks later, at age 21, he made his professional debut playing for AZL Giants (Rookie League).
He went on to play in 32 games and showed his talent, as he batted .300 (36-for-120) with five doubles and four triples.
Polonius scored 25 runs and batted in seven.
He promoted the next year and in the next three seasons, the infielder played at all three Single-A levels (Short Season, Full and Advanced).
During the 2015 season, he played in 49 games and batted only .204, as he missed part of the season due to an injury.
He was on the disabled list four times during that season.
In 2016, Polonius mostly played in Single-A, but also played in three games for Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Double-A team of the Giants.
He had two fine offensive seasons in 2016 and 2017, hitting .265 and .271 respectively with a total of 69 basehits, including three homeruns.
In 2017 and 2018, Polonius again played at different levels, including reaching Triple-A in both years.
In 2017, the infielder played in three games for Sacramento River Cats and in 2018, he appeared in eight games in the top-level of the Minor League.
During the 2017 season, he mostly played in Single-A, last year mostly in Double-A.
Last year, Polonius played for three teams (Single-A/Double-A/Triple-A) in a total of 50 games.
He batted .207 (24-for-116) with seven doubles and one homerun, while scoring 14 runs and batting in eight.
However, he also was on the disabled list twice.
After completion of the season, Polonius elected to become a Free Agent on November 2.
In seven professional seasons, Polonius played in 326 games and batted .250 (255-for-1019) with 38 doubles, 16 triples and 11 homeruns.
He scored 143 runs, batted in 106 and had an On Base Percentage of .318.
In his career, Polonius mostly played as short stop and second baseman, but also was used at third base.
After not being signed to a new contract in the USA since November last year, Polonius turned he attention to Europe and ended up in Italy.
There, he played for UnipolSai Fortitudo Bologna, whom he joined at the end of April.
In 20 games, Polonius batted .316 (25-for-79) with three doubles, one triple and five homeruns.
He scored 17 runs and batted in 24 for Bologna with whom he won the Italian Championship-title, as well as the European Champions Cup.
Playing at its home-site, Bologna shutout L&D Amsterdam Pirates 8-0 in the European Champions Cup-Final on June 8.
Polonius contributed with a 2-run triple in the fourth inning and was 2-for-5.
Last month, Bologna swept T&A San Marino 3-0 in the best-of-five Italian Series.
(September 7)
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