(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
   Juan Carlos Sulbaran signs with team in Independent League
Nederlands
 LEXINGTON, Kentucky (USA) -
Pitcher Juan Carlos Sulbaran has signed a contract with Lexingtong Counter Clocks, which plays in the Atlantic League, one of the Independent Leagues in the USA.
The club announced the addition of Sulbaran on Wednesday (March 15).
Last week, Sulbaran was one of the pitchers of the Netherlands Baseball Team during the World Baseball Classic.
Recently, it was confirmed that four other players with a Dutch passport also will play in an Independent League this season, being Sicnarf Loopstok, Jiandido Tromp, Juremi Profar and Junior Martina.
At the end of last month, it was announced that Loopstok and Tromp will play for Lake Erie Crushers, some two weeks earlier, Profar was signed by Québec Capitales and in January, Martina signed with Windy City ThunderBolts.
All in the Frontier League.
...Juan Carlos Sulbaran pitching for the...
...Netherlands against Chinese Taipei during...
...the World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Earlier this month, on March 6, the club announced that is had changed its name from Lexington Legends to Lexington Counter Clocks.
Legends has been the nickname of the club since it was founded in 2001.
Since then, as Lexington Legends, the team was a Minor League-affiliate of Houston Astros until 2012.
The team was a Minor League-team for Kansas City Royals in 2013-2019.
Due to the coronavirus-pandemic (COVID-19), the entire Minor League-season was cancelled.
When the new Minor League-alignments were introduced in 2021, Lexington was one of the clubs that lost an affiliation with a Major League-club.
In February 2021, the club announced that it would play in the Independent Atlantic League, which is a MLB Partner.
Last season, Lexington finished in fourth place in the South Division.
In October last year, the team got new owners.
They also became the owners of Wild Health Field, the home-stadium of the club since 2001.
Juan Carlos Sulbaran played in the Dutch big league since 2018.
In that year, he pitched in three games for Silicon Storks, but after a month, he left the club, as he had signed with Canadian club Winnipeg Goldeyes, which plays in the Independent American Association.
Sulbaran returned to the highest league in the Netherlands in 2019 when he played for DSS and then pitched in 14 games.
Hereafter, the righthander played two seasons for L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
In the 2021 season, Sulbaran was 8-4 with an 1.61 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 61 1/3 inning.
He led the Pirates-staff in Wins, ERA, Strikeouts, Innings Pitched and 12 Starts.
With Pirates, he won the Dutch Championship-title.
Last year, Sulbaran pitched for Curaçao Neptunus and was 7-0 with an 1.50 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 48 innings.
He also led the pitching-staff of Neptunus in these categories.
In the past winter, Sulbaran played for Indios del Bóer in the professional league in Nicaragua.
There, he was 2-4 in ten games (eight starts) with a 5.52 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 44 innings.
With Indios, Sulbaran captured the Championship-title.
Juan Carlos Sulbaran also played eight seasons professionally in the organizations of Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals.
As a High School-student in Florida, Sulbaran was drafted in the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft by Cincinnati Reds for whom he played in Single-A in 2009-2012.
During the 2012 season, the pitcher was traded to Kansas City Royals.
In that organization, Sulbaran played in 2012-2015, mostly in Double-A, but he reached Triple-A in 2015.
After becoming a Free Agent in December 2015, he was signed by St. Louis Cardinals, where he played in Double-A and Triple-A in 2016.
Sulbaran pitched for the Dutch Caribbean Team in the 2008 Haarlem Baseball Week.
Thereafter, he was added to the roster of the Netherlands Team, with whom he then participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing (China) later in the year.
Sulbaran also was a member of the successful Netherlands Team that captured the title at the World Championship in Panama in 2011.
In following years, Sulbaran pitched for the Orange-squad during the 2009 and 2017 World Baseball Classic, the 2015 Premier12 and 2016 Japan Warm-Up Games.
Last week, he participated in his third Classic with the Netherlands.
But after having reached the Semi-Final in 2013 and 2017, the team was eliminated in the First Round this time.
During the Classic, Sulbaran pitched two innings in relief in the game against Chinese Taipei.
He then struckout one batter and gave up no hits and no runs in what would be a 9-5 loss.
(March 15)
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