(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Quick Amesfoort adds professional and international Ademar Rifaela to roster
Nederlands
 AMERSFOORT (Neth.) -
Professional outfielder Ademar Rifaela, who als plays for the Netherlands National Baseball Team, has joined the team of Quick Amersfoort, as was confirmed on Wednesday (August 12).
...Ademar Rifaela joins Quick Amersfoort...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The 25-year old Curaçao-born Ademar Rifaela played professionally since 2013 in the organization of the Baltimore Orioles.
After playing two seasons at the Rookie League-level, Rifaela promoted to Single-A in 2015.
Since that season, the outfielder played at different Single-A levels (Short Season, Advanced) through 2017.
The following year, Rifaela made another promotion and played in 100 games for Bowie Baysox in Double-A, hitting .265 with seven homeruns and 41 runs batted in.
Last season, Rifaela played in 60 games for Bowie, made also promoted to Triple-A and played in 38 games for Norfolk Tides.
There, he batted .236 with two homeruns.
In seven professional seasons, Ademar Rifaela played in 584 games and batted .257 with 63 homeruns.
He scored 290 runs and batted in 261.
In November last year, Rifaela became a Free Agent, but was not signed (yet) by another club.
This year, the entire Minor League-season has been cancelled due to the coronavirus-pandemic (COVID-19).
In 2018, Rifaela made his debut in the Netherlands Kingdom Team, with whom he then won the first edition of the Super6 Baseball in Hoofddorp (Netherlands).
Last year, Rifaela accounted for several highlights during the European Championshiop in Germany, where the Netherlands captured the title.
The lefthanded hitting Rifaela then batted six homeruns in seven games, finishing the event with a .407 batting average and 17 runs batted in.
Rifaela hit three of his homeruns against Germany, making him one of the few Netherlands Team-players to have hit three homeruns in one international game.
Afterwards, Rifaela won three individual awards.
He not only led the tournament in homeruns and RBI's, he was also named Most Valuable Player.
After the European Championship, Rifaela traveled with the Orange Team to Italy for the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
There, the Netherlands was less successful, as it failed to qualify for the Olympic Games, which would have been played this year in Japan.
By finishing in second place, the Netherlands qualified for the Final Baseball Qualifier in Taiwan.
That event, as well as the Olympic Games, was postponed to next year due to the coronavirus-pandemic.
Ademar Rifaela arrived in Amersfoort on Tuesday and will be eligible to play coming Thursday.
(August 12)
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