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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar) Sherten Apostel & Zander Wiel first Netherlands-players to see action in Spring Training Nederlands SURPRISE, Arizona / FORT MYERS / LAKELAND, Florida (USA) - Curaçao-born infielder Sherten Apostel was the first player from the Netherlands Kingdom to have played in a Spring Training-game this year. On Friday (February 21), Apostel was the starting designated hitter for Texas Rangers in the exhibition game against Kansas City Royals. Later on Friday, Zander Wiel became the second, as he was the starting first baseman for Minnesota Twins. Ten players from the Netherlands opened Spring Training on a Major League-roster, one of them as a so-called non-roster player, the others on the 40-man roster. Earlier on Friday, Minnesota Twins added Minor League-player Zander Wiel to its roster as an extra player for its first exhibition game of the season. With that, Wiel became the eleventh Netherlands-player in Spring Training this year. There were two more games played on Friday, which included two teams that also have a player from the Netherlands on its roster, but they didn't play. On Saturday, all 30 Major League-teams will get into action. (February 21) Related Article: 10 Kingdom-players open Spring Training on Major League-rosters. (February 20)

At Surprise, Texas Rangers played against Kansas City Royals. They played in Surprise Stadium, the site they both share as Spring Training-location in Arizona. Sherten Apostel, who is on the 40-man roster of Texas for the first time, was the starting designated hitter. With Kansas City leading 2-0, Apostel got his first at bat in the top of the third inning and then struckout. Apostel got his second at bat in the top of the sixth and then again, he struckout. Texas didn't get into scoring position in the first six innings. In the second, Scott Heineman singled with one out, but was caught stealing. In the fifth, Todd Frazier led off with a walk, but he was eliminated in a double play. That ended in the top of the seventh. Trailing 3-0 and with two outs, Ronald Guzman doubled, Ryan Dorrow singled and Rob Refsnyder homered to make it a 3-3 score. Kansas City had taken the lead thanks to homeruns by Jorge Soler (2-run, 1st inning) and pinch-hitter Ryan O'Hearn (6th inning). Hereafter, Nick Ciuffo walked, which brought up the spot of Apostel. He was then replaced by pinch-hitter Blake Swihart. A pitching change followed, then Swihart singled, but Texas stranded two runners. Kansas City re-took the lead in the bottom of the eighth on a pinch-hit single by Khalil Lee. However, it was Texas that left the field victorious with a 5-4 score thanks to a 2-run single by Henry Ramos in the top of the ninth. Apostel, who turns 21 next month, played in one Spring Training-game for Texas last year. Back then, he was 1-for-3 against Milwaukee Brewers.

In Fort Myers, in the late afternoon, Minnesota Twins played against the Golden Golphers, the baseball-team of the University of Minnesota from Minneapolis. At Hammond Stadium at the CenturyLink Sports Complex, Zander Wiel (born in the USA) was the starting first baserman for Minnesota and contributed to an early lead. In the bottom of the first inning, Royce Lewis led off for the Twins with a double, advanced on a wild pitch, then scored the first run when next batter Ryan Jeffers reached on an error. With two outs and the bases loaded, another wild pitch led to the second run. Moments later, Zander Wiel singled to bring in two more runners and lift the lead to 4-0. Minnesota added four more runs in the second at bat. This time, Wiel walked with two outs, but was left behind. Minnesota again rallied for four runs in the third inning. And Wiel got his third at bat. But with two outs and a runner on second base, Wiel grounded out to end this inning. Wiel left the game in the top of the fifth inning when he was replaced by Cody Asche. Minnesota scored two more runs in both the fifth and sixth inning. The team recorded a big 16-0 win in the game that ended after 6 1/2 inning. Six Twins-pitchers gave up only one basehit. Zander Wiel is the son of Curaçao-born Randy Wiel, who in 1968 was a member of the track-and-field team of the Netherlands Antilles in the Olympic Games in Mexico City (Mexico). After having studied and played basketball in North Carolina (USA), Wiel moved to the Netherlands in 1979 and went on to play basketball BV Amstelveen and Elmex Leiden, retiring in 1985. In this period, Wiel also played five years for the Netherlands Basketball Team. He then returned to the USA to become an Assistant Coach of the basketball-team of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. In 1991-1993, he was the Head Coach of the Netherlands Team, but then returned again to America. This time, he was the Head Coach of the North Carolina-team for three years, followed by six seasons in the coaching-staff of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. It was there that his son Zander was born. In 2002-2004, Wiel was an Assistant Coach of the professional NBA-team of the Los Angeles Lakers, which then included legendary players as Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. In following years, Randy Wiel was active again the Netherlands as Head Coach of EiffelTowers Nijmegen, Den Bosch and Rotterdam Basketball College. The 27-year old Zander Wiel plays professional baseball since 2015 in the organization of the Twins. In his fourth professional season, he promoted to Triple-A. Last year, he played the entire season in Triple-A for Rochester Red Wings. In 126 games, he batted .254 with 119 basehits, including 24 homeruns. Wiel batted in 78 runs and scored 86. Zander Wiel also played in Spring Training-games in 2018 and 2019 for Minnesota. Two years ago, he played in one game. Last year, Wiel played in nine games and was 0-for-8, but batted in two runs.

In Fort Myers, at JetBlue Park, Boston Red Sox played a 7-inning game against the Huskies, the baseball-team of Northeastern University from Boston. The game remained scoreless for five innings, then Boston scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth and won 3-0. For this game, earlier in the day, Boston had added ten extra Minor League-players. In Lakeland, at Joker Marchant Stadium, Detroit Tigers played a 9-inning game and also faced a college-team. Like Boston, Detroit had its hands full and decided the game in the ninth inning. Detroit played against the Fire, the team of Southeastern University from Lakeland. Detroit trailed twice, but came alongside both times. Trailing 2-0, Detroit scored twice in the fifth, then trailing 4-2, the Major League-team tied the score again in the sixth. Detroit then won 5-4 on a walk-off double by Daniel Pinero with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. Xander Bogaerts (Boston) and Jonathan Schoop (Detroit) didn't play. Bogaerts, who is currently is slightly injured, and Schoop are both regular players. During early games of Spring Training, it is common that regular players don't always play or play just a few innings.

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