(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Former pro Donny Breek to pitch for DSS/Kinheim in 2023
Nederlands
 HAARLEM (Neth.) -
DSS/Kinheim announced another new addition to its roster for the 2023 season.
On Monday (November 7), the Haarlem-team announced that righthanded pitcher Donny Breek will play for DSS/Kinheim after having played for L&D Amsterdam Pirates since 2020.
Breek is the second new player announced by DSS/Kinheim.
On Sunday, the club announced that young infielder Amarensio Franka, who comes from Neptunus Tridents, also will play for the team in the new season.
...Donny Breek pitching for...
...Amsterdam Pirates...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
On October 27, DSS/Kinheim announced that Etienne Meijer was named the new Head Coach of the team.
He succeeds Michael Crouwel, who retired after the season had ended.
The transfer-period ends on November 15.
The 23-year old Donny Breek played professionally in 2018-2021 in the Minnesota Twins-organization.
He was signed in September 2017, then made his professional debut in 2018, playing for GCL Twins in the Rookie League.
He also played for this team in the 2019 season.
In 2020, Breek also was scheduled to pitch again in the Rookie League.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), the entire Minor League-season was canceled.
Instead, Breek pitched in the Dutch big league in 2020 for Amsterdam Pirates.
In 2021, the righthanded pitcher returned to the USA and promoted to Single-A, playing for Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.
After four outings for this team, Breek returned to the Rookie League-team.
He made three appearances for this team, then was released at the end of July.
Later in the season, he re-joined Amsterdam Pirates.
Donny Breek, who started playing baseball at Almere '90, made his debut in the Dutch big league on 2016 when he played for DSS.
There, he was 2-8 with a 7.51 ERA in the regular season.
In 50 1/3 inning, the righthander struckout 33 batters, walked 44 and gave up 61 basehits.
In 2017, Breek was 1-3 with a 7.95 ERA for DSS, which then was coached by his father Jerry Breek.
In this season, he struckout 34 batters and walked 39 in 48 2/3 inning.
In the 2018 season, Breek pitched two innings in relief for DSS in the opening game against Amsterdam Pirates, striking out one batter.
That was his lone appearance, as thereafter, he traveled to the USA to start his professional career.
As mentioned, when the Minor League-season was cancelled, Breek pitched for Amsterdam Pirates in 2020.
He then pitched in relief in six games and was 0-0 with an 1.12 ERA, striking out nine batters in eight innings.
After his release in July 2021, Breek made one (brief) appearance in the regular season for Amsterdam Pirates for whom he didn't pitch in the Holland Series in which Pirates prolonged its Championship-title.
This year, Breek made only three appearances on the mound for Amsterdam Pirates in the regular season.
He was 0-1 and threw only two innings in which he struckout four batters and walked thirteen, but gave up only two basehits.
Since 2013, Breek played in several National Youth Teams.
He won the title with the Netherlands Under-15 Team at the European Under-15 Championship in 2013 (in Sweden) and 2014 (in Germany) and with the Netherlands Under-18 Team in the Championship in 2016 (in Spain).
In 2019, the righthander pitched for the Netherlands National Team during the European Championship in Germany.
During the event, Breek had a good outing in his debut-game against Sweden, striking out ten batters, walking one and giving up only two basehits in six innings to become the winning pitcher in a 9-0 win.
In the Final, Breek was the starting pitcher against Italy and struckout four batters in 4 2/3 inning, giving up one basehit.
With the Netherlands leading 5-0, he gave up a lead-off homerun in the bottom of the fith, then retired the next two batters (one strikeout).
But after walking a batter with two outs, he was relieved.
With that, he ended up one-third inning short of becoming the winning pitcher, as the Netherlands won 5-1.
After the Championship, Breek pitched in one game during the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Italy.
In 2016, Donny Breek won the Roel de Mon Award for the Best Dutch Youth Pitcher.
(November 7)
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