ADO
In 2005, then-called Hypotheekzeker.nl-Tornado's finished in a sixth place tie with Amsterdam Pirates, both having the same record (14-27-1). Tornado's however finished above Pirates as the record of games played between them was 4-2 in their favor.
Towards the end of the season, it was decided that the team's name Tornado's was changed back to ADO, the name under which the club was founded. Only the big league team and the junior squad were known as Tornado's the last few years.

When the season ended and the transfperiod approached it became apparent that lots of changes were due for ADO. Especially in the 'new player' categorie. Even before the November 1 deadline, names of new players were announced and they were big names. When the transfer-period had ended, nine new players could officially be added to the 2006-roster, including five National Team-players, who all came over from DOOR Neptunus, which a few weeks earlier had captured its seventh consecutive title. They were RHP Rob Cordemans (0.77, 13-1, 1 SV), last years Best Pitcher of the league, RHP and Closer Robin van Doornspeek (2.74, 3-0, 4 SV), Catcher Maikel Benner (.274, 21 RBI, 2 HR), 1B Percy Isenia (.271, 22 RBI, 1 HR) and Outfielder Harvey Monte (.380, 31 RBI, 0 HR).
Other new additions were 3B Marvin Bleij (.299, 19 RBI, 1 HR) from Sparta/Feyenoord, Outfielder Adrian Anthony (.200, 0 RBI), who played the majority of the season for First Divisionist DOOR Tridents and appeared in six games for DOOR Neptunus, RHP Jurriaan Koks (First Divisionist Storks) and Outfielder Jermaine Esprit, who came from Kinheim, but missed the entire season last year due to a knee-injury.

Six players left ADO before the November 1 deadline. LHP Julian Lampe (8.22, 0-1) and LHP Daniël Overbeek (4.08, 0-3, 1 SV) went back to Konica Minolta Pioniers, with the latter being added to its big league-roster. RHP Wouter Lensselink (4.05, 0-0, 4 games) will play for First Divisionist DOOR Tridents in 2006. 1B/Catcher Stefan Venema (.172, 6 RBI) (Euro Stars), Infielder Boudewijn van Elswijk (.196, 10 RBI, 1 HR) (Amsterdam Pirates) and Outfielder Jaïr Roseburg (.297, 2 RBI) (Pioniers) also left.
Later, it became clear that veteran OF Harvey Gumbs (.293, 13 RBI) and IF Ronald van Maaren (.000, 2 games) also had left the club. Six other players, who all appeared briefly with the main club in 2005, are currently not on the roster. Four of them are with ADO-2 in the First Division: RHP/OF Erwin Bonis (.160, 0 RBI, 12 games) (who is recovering from an injury), C Wouter Stuursma (.333, 2 games), OF Rodrinov Faries (.261, 2 RBI, 9 games) and OF Kevin Kops (.250, 0 RBI, 3 games). RHP Gregory Grampon (0.00, 0-0, 1 game) retired, but remained with the club. Catcher Rodrick Franken (.063, 2 RBI, 9 games) went back to Aruba. Also, RHP Gary Tongue (3.33, 3-10, 0 SV) will not return to the team this season. He will play in Croatia for Karlovac, the former team of player/coach Jimmy Summers and Japanese pitcher Tetsuhiro Monna, who pitched for ADO a few years ago, but played in Croatia the last seasons. Monna went back to Japan and is now working with the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the Japanese big league.

There were also some changes in the coaching staff. Jimmy Summers remains the Head Coach, but added two coaches to his staff. He already had Robert John in his side last season and he remains Bench Coach. An additional Bench Coach was added in Hudson John (father of Robert), the legendary slugger of the 60s when he played for the championship teams of Sparta and the Dutch national team. Mike Crouwel is the new 3B Coach. Last season, he had the same role with Amsterdam Pirates.

Outlook 2006

Pitching

...Rob Cordemans... (Photo: Saskia Berkel)

With the addition of RHP Rob Cordemans, ADO has a pitching ace on its staff. RHP Alex Smith (2.45, 7-6, 0 SV) comes back and also will be used as a starter, as he was last season. The third starter might be rookie Jurriaan Koks or maybe Jimmy Summers (1.64, 4-2, 1 SV). Head Coach Jimmy Summers: ,,Koks has a bright future and I might start some games myself, by I also can use my rubber arm in relief. Now we have some solid coaching, I can focus more on doing my thing and pitch more.''
In the bull-pen, Summers has RHP Tjibbe van Dijk (4.55, 0-3, 0 SV) and Berry van Driel (6.75, 0-2, 2 SV), an infielder who will see action again as reliever, just as last season. ,,He has an excellent arm'', Summers is saying. Newcomer RHP Robin van Doornspeek will be the closer, the role he also had with DOOR Neptunus last season and before that with Konica Minolta Pioniers. Summers: ,,We wants to try to let him pitch two innings comfortably''.
For the exhibition games, rookie RHP Dennis Burgersdijk has been added to the roster. Besides these pitchers, LHP Manny Olivera also still is a non-roster player. He has signed another professional contract for this season (AA-Florida Marlins), but remains eligible to pitch for ADO.
Summers: ,,Our pitching and defense is solid, but we will play one game at a time. Yeah, we have a good change of winning.''

Catching
Newcomer Maikel Benner will be the main catcher with Michel Korzeniewski (.229, 13 RBI, 0 HR) and Remco Seitzinger (.227, 5 RBI, 0 HR) as back-ups.
Summers: ,,Maikel will get a lot of it. He has a great arm and will neutralize the running game of the opponent.''

Infield

...Percy Isenia... (Photo: Marco Stoovelaar)

Probable Line-Up 2006 Starters-RHP Rob Cordemans, RHP Alex Smith, RHP Jurriaan Koks, RHP Jimmy Summers Relievers-RHP Tjibbe van Dijk, RHP Berry van Driel, RHP Jimmy Summers Closer-RHP Robin van Doornspeek C-Maikel Benner / Michel Korzeniewski, Remco Seitzinger 1B-Percy Isenia / Kalian Sams 2B-Berry van Driel 3B-Mavin Bleij SS-Shurty Tremus OF-James Rutherford / Harvey Monte / Kalian Sams / Jermaine Esprit / Adrian Anthony / Quensley Bazoer DH-not decided

Veteran Percy Isenia will play first base for ADO this season, while Marvin Bleij, another newcomer, is to be the regular third baseman. Last years third baseman Berry van Driel (.282, 9 RBI, 0 HR) moves over to second base and Shurty Tremus (.179, 12 RBI, 0 HR) returns as the short stop after making his debut last season in which he sometimes misplayed some balls. Summers: ,,Shurty is young, but a hell of a ballplayer. He had some rough spots, but it was his first time at the big league-level. He is a hard working kid and will be one of the top short stops in the league. Besides that, he is a switch-hitter and can run.''
Kalian Sams (.263, 5 RBI, 0 HR) will serve as the back-up first baseman. Summers: ,,But the other infielders can also play other positions, we have interchangable options. Our infield is solid''.

Outfield
Harvey Monte probably will be the new centerfielder, meaning James Rutherford (.291, 12 RBI, 0 HR) moves over to leftfield. Kalian Sams might become the regular rightfielder.
But Jermaine Esprit is also on the roster. The speedy outfielder recovered from his injury (''he's healthy'') and probably will be the lead-off hitter, meaning he will either play in the outfield or be the Designated Hitter.
Besides these four, Adrian Anthony and Quensley Bazoer (.185, 4 RBI, 0 HR) also will see action in the outfield.

Designated Hitter
Summers: ,,Who ever is executing and gets on base is a candidate. We need someone who will advance runners in scoring position. It has to be someone who is difficult to pitch against, someone who is putting the ball in play.''

...Jimmy Summers... (Photo: ADO)

General
Jimmy Summers: ,,We are quite a bit better this season. By bringing those veterans in, I will sleep much better than last year. It will be of great influence on the younger guys. Because we still concern about youth development. We have a nice group of guys and concentrate more on chemistry than on big names. These veterans will be role models, everyone will benefit from them. No, I think there will be no extra pressure on them.
Our strength will be the chemistry and the experience. We have a good group of veterans, who know what to say to the younger players. For most of them it will be the first time to wear another uniform, but they are very professional. Our weakness last season was the small group of players, sometimes we had only nine players and two pitchers. We did a lot better than everyone expected. There were moments that I also thought we would go down. We had no big names, but we surprised and got it done. Now, we have a different situation with some players coming over together from Neptunus. We will enjoy a turningpoint in the club. It is great to bring in guys with their status into the club. But we will also will keep our eye to the young guys, helping kids and teach them. These veterans have all agreed to help with developing young players. Yeah, I'm excited.''

This season, Summers will work with a new coaching staff.
Summers: ,,It is great to have Hudson John around. He is a legend. He has great knowledge, knows the inside things and is a team guy. He can teach a lot. When he tells something, everyone listens. It's a great person, an interesting character and always tells stories.
Mike Crouwel is an excellent addition and has great experience, having played on the Olympics. I know him as a player and as a coach.
Robert John comes back and he did a lot of work after the season. He brought in the new players and a new sponsor, Lijbrandt Telecom.''

Who will reach the Play-Offs?
Summers: ,,Kinheim has to be the favorite for the championship, they made some good moves. Neptunus will be there. Why wouldn't they make it? It is a respectful organization.
I think, the last two spots will be for three teams: Pioniers, HCAW and ADO. Our pitching is a strong point, we have a variety of pitching. The league is balanced this season, you can't overlook any team, therefore we will play one game at a time.
It will be an interesting year. And if those players wouldn't have left Neptunus, they would have won forever, probably ten in a row. This is the first time I enter a season not knowing who will be the next champion.''

ADO opens the season on the road vs. Corendon Kinheim in Haarlem on Saturday, April 15.
The first home game will be the next day when Kinheim comes to The Hague Sunday, April 16.

ADO-related transfer stories
Changes in players at Neptunus. (October 11)
Cordemans, Monte also leave Neptunus. (October 20)
Bleij also joins ADO. (October 26)

COMING UP IN PART SIX: CORENDON KINHEIM

other episodes:
Part One: DOOR Neptunus (January 16)
Part Two: Mr. Cocker HCAW (January 21)
Part Three: Konica Minolta Pioniers (February 5)
Part Four: Sparta/Feyenoord (March 2)
Part Six: Corendon Kinheim (March 19)
Part Seven: Amsterdam Pirates (March 27)
Part Eight: Instant Holland Almere '90 (April 11)

Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl