(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Robert Bos)
 Neptunus announces return of infielder Tyriq Kemp
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Wednesday (October 12), Curaçao Neptunus announced that infielder Tyriq Kemp has returned to the Rotterdam-club after having played for Twins Oosterhout in the pas three seasons.
Tyriq Kemp is the fourth newest addition to the team-roster of Neptunus for the 2023 season.
Earlier, the club announced that it had acquired pitchers Ryan Huntington and Tom de Blok.
Last Friday, Neptunus reported that switch-hitting outfielder/first baseman Arthur Bonevacia also has transfered to the club from Twins Oosterhout.
...Tyriq Kemp with Twins Oosterhout...
(© Photo: Robert Bos) |
In the final week of September, Neptunus announced that Greg Muller was named new Head Coach as the successor of Raily Legito.
Pitcher Kaj Timmermans, who played for Neptunus in the past three seasons, returned to HCAW.
The transfer-period ends on November 15.
In the press release announcing the addition of Tyriq Kemp, Neptunus-chairman Jorian van Acker states:
,,It is good that a talent from our own youth academy is given a place in the selection of Curaçao Neptunus.
Tyriq has developed enormously in recent years.
We are happy that he now chooses to return to Rotterdam.
Although we take into account that he will not play many games for Curaçao Neptunus next season, this is a very positive step for the long term.''
The 19-year old Tyriq Kemp made his debut in the Dutch big league in 2019 when he appeared in nine games of the main-team of Neptunus.
He then batted 4-for-22 (.182), scored twice and batted in one run.
In the majority of the 2019 season, the infielder played for Tridents, the second team of Neptunus.
Before that, Kemp played in youth-teams of Neptunus, as well as for the academy-team of Unicorns.
After the 2019 season, Kemp transfered to Twins Oosterhout to gain more playing experience in the highest league.
In the 2020 season, which was abbreviated because of measures against the coronavirus (COVID-19), Kemp played in all 21 regular season-games of Twins.
In his first full season, Kemp was the third-best hitter of the Oosterhout-team, finishing with a .321 batting average (25-for-78) with four exta-basehits (one homerun).
He led the team with 25 basehits, 17 runs scored, 16 walks and four stolen bases and shared third place with twelve runs batted in.
Last year, Kemp batted .270 (33-for-122) in his second season with Twins.
He was second-best in the team with 29 runs scored and was third-best with his 22 runs batted in.
With Twins, Kemp qualified for the Play-Offs, but the team was then swept by Neptunus.
This season, Tyriq Kemp initially played college-baseball in the team of Western Oklahoma State College.
Aftyer having returned from the USA, Tyriq Kemp batted 18-for-69 (.261) with only two extra-basehits (both doubles) for Twins.
Kemp, who primarily was the second baseman of Twins, scored four runs and batted in seven.
Twins again qualified for the Play-Offs, but at that moment, Kemp aleady had returned to college in the USA.
Head Coach of Twins Oosterhout this season was Tyriq's father Adonis Kemp, who last year was the team's 3B Coach.
Since last year, Tyriq's brother Urving Kemp also played for Twins.
Next season, Tyriq will play alongside his other brother Dwayne Kemp, who is a longtime player of Neptunus.
Halfway September, Twins announced that Adonis Kemp will not return as Head Coach next year.
Last year, Tyriq Kemp played for the Netherlands Under-23 National Team which captured the title at the European Championship in Italy.
There, Kemp batted .455 (5-for-11), scored seven runs and batted in five.
With the Under-23 Team, the infielder also participated in the Under-23 Baseball World Cup in Mexico, where the Netherlands finished in tenth place.
Kemp batted .261, scored twice and batted in four runs.
At the moment, Kemp is in Taiwan where he will participate in the Under-23 World Cup with the Netherlands Under-23 Team.
The Orange Team will play its first game on Friday against South Korea.
(October 12)
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