(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Neptunus also acquires pitcher Mike Groen for 2023 season
Nederlands
 ROTTERDAM (Neth.) -
Curaçao Neptunus has acquired another new player to its roster for the 2023 season.
This time, the Rotterdam-club announced on Tuesday (October 18) that it has acquired righthanded pitcher Mike Groen, who was one of the pitchers of L&D Amsterdam Pirates in the previous four seasons.
Mike Groen is the fifth new player to come to Neptunus since early October.
Earlier, the club announced that it had acquired pitchers Ryan Huntington and Tom de Blok.
Thereafter, Neptunus reported that switch-hitting outfielder/first baseman Arthur Bonevacia also has transfered to the club.
Last week, it was announced that infielder Tyriq Kemp has returned to the Rotterdam-club.
Huntington, Bonevacia and Kemp all played for Twins Oosterhout.
De Blok was on the roster of Amsterdam Pirates through halfway of the season, but didn't play due to an inury.
In late September, Neptunus announced that Greg Muller was named new Head Coach as the successor of Raily Legito.
In early October, HCAW announced that Neptunus-pitcher Kaj Timmermans has returned to the Bussum-club.
...Mike Groen pitching for Amsterdam Pirates...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
So far, only Neptunus and HCAW have announced some of their transfers.
They will become official when the tranfer-period ends on November 15.
In the press-release regarding the addition of Mike Groen, Neptunus-chairman Jorian van Acker states:
,,With the arrival of Mike we are bringing a pitcher with a lot of quality to Rotterdam.
His (international) experience will be of great value to the team.
In addition, we hope that he will have a positive influence on the development of the young talents in our bullpen.''
As player of the second team of Amsterdam Pirates, Mike Groen made his debut in the big league during the 2014 season when he appeared in one game of the main-squad of Pirates.
In that game, which was the final game of the regular season, Groen pitched 2/3 inning in relief, but became the winning pitcher in a 6-3 win against Hoofddorp Pioniers.
After the 2014 season, the righthander transfered to DSS.
In the 2015 season, Groen had the best ERA (2.13) of the pitching-staff of the Haarlem-team and was 4-3 with 25 strikeouts in 50 2/3 inning.
Groen appeared in twelve games, seven of them as starter.
Although he closed the 2016 season with a high 6.82 ERA, this still was the best ERA of the pitching-staff of DSS.
In this season, Groen pitched in 14 games (all starts) and was 0-11 with 37 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings pitched, giving up 100 basehits and 72 runs.
Mike Groen also was on the mound for DSS in 2017 and this time, he had the second-best ERA of the Haarlem-team (7.76).
The righthander pitched in seven games (all starts), was 1-5 and struckout fifteen batters in 31 1/3 inning.
In 2018, Groen moved to the bullpen and threw in 21 games as reliever, several as them as closer, for DSS.
He closed the season with an 1-3 record, five saves and a 2.51 ERA, striking out 42 batters in 32 1/3 inning.
After having played four seasons for DSS, Mike Groen returned to Amsterdam Pirates.
In the 2019 season, Groen again was a reliever.
With 23 appearances, he pitched in the most games for Pirates, with whom he then won the Dutch Championship-title.
Groen was 2-1 with two saves and an 1.93 ERA, striking out 24 in 28 innings.
In the abbreviated 2020 season, Mike Groen led the Amsterdam pitching-staff with an 0.73 ERA.
He pitched in eight games (all in relief) and was 1-0 with two saves.
In the 12 1/3 inning he was on the mound, Groen struckout eight batters.
Last year, Mike Groen pitched in eleven games as reliever for Amsterdam Pirates, with whom he again captured the Championship-title.
As in 2019, Pirates again defeated Neptunus in the Holland Series.
In the 2021 season, Groen was 0-0 with three saves and a 2.35 ERA and struckout sixteen batters in 15 1/3 inning.
This season, Groen pitched in only seven games (one start) for Pirates, as he was injured for several weeks.
Like Tom de Blok, Groen started the season on the injured list.
De Blok didn't pitch the entire year, but Groen got back into action.
The righthander was injured since July of last year, then made his first appearance in April of this year.
However, the next day, he returned to the injured list.
A month later, he was back on the mound and then had some fine appearances.
He was 2-0 with two saves, a 2.00 ERA and seven strikeouts in nine innings.
Last year, Mike Groen made his debut in the Netherlands National Team.
He first participated with the Orange Team in the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier.
During that event in Mexico, the Netherlands failed to qualify for the Olympic Games, which were held later in the year in Japan.
Groen pitched in one game.
Later in 2021, Groen also was on the mound for the Netherlands in the European Championship in Italy.
In the Final against Israel, Groen took over the Orange-pitching in the seventh inning with the Netherlands trailing 4-1.
With one out, he hit a batter and gave up a single, but then was supported with a double play.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Netherlands scored four runs to take a 5-4 lead, which made Groen the pitcher-of-record.
With the Netherlands now leading, Wendell Floranus took over from Groen in the eighth inning.
The Netherlands won 9-4 to capture the European title and Groen was the winning pitcher.
This year, Groen participated in the Baseball Week Haarlem.
During the international event in Haarlem (Netherlands), Groen pitched in one game as reliever.
So far, Groen has pitched in five international games.
(October 18)
|
