(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
    Hendrik Clementina, Aldrich De Jongh, Jakey Josepha in Spring Training
Nederlands
   NORTH PORT, Florida / PHOENIX, Arizona / SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (USA) -
When Major League Spring Training began halfway February, there were eight players with a Dutch passport on a roster.
A ninth one was added late February.
In the past one-and-a-half week, three more Dutch players were assigned to a Major League-team as an additional player, while another one signed an one-year deal.
Major League Spring Training opened on February 13 and 14.
Back then second baseman Ozzie Albies, catcher Chadwick Tromp (both Atlanta Braves), short stop Xander Bogaerts (San Diego Padres), closer Kenley Jansen, outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela (both Boston Red Sox), infielder Carter Kieboom (Washington Nationals), outfielder Rickie Palacios (Cleveland Guardians) and pitcher Sem Robberse (Toronto Blue Jays) were the players who were in camp with a Major League-team.
All of them were on 40-man roster, except for Robberse, who was invited to Spring Training as a non-roster player.
On February 26, pitcher Derek West was added to the team of Houston Astros as an extra pitcher.
On March 1, Chadwick Tromp was assigned to Gwinnett Stripers, the Triple-A team of Atlanta Braves.
Since March 9, four more players were added to Major League-teams.
First, on March 9, catcher Hendrik Clementina was assigned to Atlanta Braves.
Eight days later, outfielder Aldrich De Jongh was assigned to Los Angeles Dodgers.
And last Tuesday (March 21), short stop Jakey Josepha was assigned to Arizona Diamondbacks.
All three are born on Curaçao.
Also, last weekend, it was reported that outfielder Jurickson Profar had signed an one-year contract with Colorado Rockies.
That was officially confirmed on Tuesday and so Profar joined his new team on that day, but has not played yet for Colorado.
After being added as an additional player on March 9, Hendrik Clementina played in his first game on March 16.
On that day, he took over the catching from Travis d'Arnaud in an away-game against Tampa Bay Rays (which won 5-1).
The 25-year old Clementina was 0-for-2 with one strikeout.
He also played in three Spring Training-games for Atlanta in 2022 and in two games for Cincinnati Reds in 2019.
Last season, Clementina played in Double-A and Triple-A and batted .226 with 13 homeruns.
In 2019, Clementina participated with the Netherlands Team in the European Championshiip, Olympic Qualifying Tournament and Premier12.
24-year old Aldrich De Jongh has not yet played in a Spring Training-game.
De Jongh plays professionally since 2018.
Last season, he played in Single-A and batted .216 in 63 games with nine homeruns and 25 runs batted in.
Last month, De Jongh was one of the players who participated with WildCats Curaçao in the Caribbean Series.
18-year old Jakey Josepha made his Spring Training-debut the same day he was added to the team of Arizona.
On Tuesday-evening, in the home-game against Los Angeles Angels (who won 7-1), Josepha entered the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as pinch-runner for Dominic Fletcher at first base, but stranded there.
Josepha made his professional debut in 2021.
Last season, Josepha played in two Rookie League-teams of Arizona that were based in the Dominican Republic.
Combined, he batted .311 in 51 games and batted in 31 runs.
(March 22)
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