My first post on this blog will be about players from the Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles playing at the following levels: A Advanced, A Full Season, A Short Season and Rookie.
A Advanced
Lars Huijer
Recently Lars Huijer was promoted from A Full Season to A Advanced. Now Lars is pitching for the High Desert Mavericks (Seattle Mariners organization). So far Lars has pitched games with some mixed results. In his last start but one, he was hit hard and in 4.2 innings he allowed five hits and four runs (three earned). He also gave up three walks and a homerun while he struck out one. In his last appearance on August 4, he bounced back in a decent fashion. In this game he lasted five innings and allowed only one hit and an earned run. He gave up four walks and struck out two. Thanks to this performance, he lowered his ERA from 7.00 plus to 6.10.
Christopher Garia
Christopher is the center fielder of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Texas Rangers organization). At the plate he was struggling a bit lately, but it looks like that he has found his groove again. In his last ten games he has collected 16 hits out of 45 at bats. He has raised his batting average to .293. Christopher is a speedy guy as well. So far he has stolen 38 bases, two of them last night when he stole second and third base.
Randolph Oduber
Randolph Oduber is the left fielder of the Potomac Nationals. He started the season at the Harrisburg Senators in the Eastern League (AA), but after one game in which he went 0 for 2 he was demoted to the Carolina League. He reacted well on this move. So far he is having a .274 BA in 102 games and 390 at bats. Apparently he has some kind of talent because he was named MVP of the Gulf Coast League after the 2010 season. He was also added to the post season All Star Team of that year.
A Full Season
Many Dutchies are suffering from injuries at this level.
Carlton Daal
Carlton Daal is playing for the Cincinnati Reds organization. His current team is the Dayton Dragons of the Midwest League. Carlton has appeared in the league’s All Star Game this year. At bat he is a stud, hitting .296. You may say “Stud?”; yeah a stud. Recently his BA slipped below .300 but I think that is because of an injury. In his final game at July 26 he went 0 for 3, but before that game his batting average was way above .300. The Dragons has placed him on the 7-day DL and he hasn’t come off since.
Spencer Kieboom
Spencer is a talented catcher in the organization of the Washington Nationals. So far this season he is hitting a decent .311 despite the fact that he is slumping a bit in his last ten games. He proves to be a reliable backstop by killing 31 of 70 basestealing attempts.
John Polonius
Since June 19 John is spending time on the DL. This is especially sad because he was sporting a .484 BA in his last ten games. He has played three infield positions this season (2B, 3B and SS). His overall fielding percentage is .960. When healthy, John is playing for the Augusta GreenJackets (San Francisco Giants organization).
Roderick Bernadina
Roderick is a cousin of former MLB player Roger Bernadina. Roderick hasn’t played a single game so far because of an injury. He is under contract of the Baltimore Orioles.
Nick Urbanus
Nick is a descendent of a very famous baseball family in the Netherlands. His father, Charles Urbanus was a very gifted short stop and pitcher who is now manager of the Dutch Hoofdklasse (Major League) club L&D Amsterdam Pirates. Nick has had some stints on the DL this season, but now it looks he is back. He is playing for the Hickory CrawDads in the Texas Rangers organization. His .181 ba demonstrates that he is struggling at the plate. Defensive wise he is doing quite well. He has played all four infield positions and has commited only four errors so far.
A Short Season
Adaric Kelly
Adaric has been struggling of late at A Full Season level, so the Blue Jays organization decided to send him down to the Vancouve Canadians. He has responded quite well on this move by keeping his opponents scoreless in 5.1 innings of work.
Juremi Profar
Juremi is the younger brother of Texas Rangers infielder Jurrickson Profar. Juremi is playing for the same organization. He has wandered through the minor leagues this season. He has played at AAA at A Full Season and now at A Short Season for the Spokane Indians. Despite his modest BA of .263 it looks like he has found the way up. In his last ten games he has collected 11 hits out of 36 at bats (.306). Juremi has played the most games at third base. At this position he is sporting a fielding percentage of .923, so there is some room for improvement there.
Denzel Richardson
Like Juremi Profar and Adaric Kelly, Denzel Richardson is also playing in the Northwest League. Recently he was promoted from the Grand Junction Rockies. Denzel had a promising start in his first two games, hiting .250. But after those two games he went 0 for 4 and 0 for 3, so his BA dropped to .133. In six games in the outfield his fielding percentage has a perfect score on all three outfield positions.
Rodney Daal
After being caught for using forbidden substances, the catcher from Amsterdam has served a 50 game suspension. In the meantime he was rehabbing after Tommy John surgery. Right now he is working to get back on track at the one of the rookie leagues. For the time being he will be used as DH solely.
Jiandido Tromp
Jiandido Tromp is playing in the other Short Season league: the New York-Penn League. He is playing for the Williamsport CrossCutters of the Phillies organization. Despite his modest batting average (.271) he is doing a little bit better in his last three games in which he collected four hits out of ten at bats. In each of those three games he did hit a homerun. With a .970 fielding percentage you can say that his defense is fine.
Darren Seferina
Darren is playing in the organization of the St. Louis Cardinals. His current team is the State College Spikes. His batting average is hovering around .300. Defensive wise he is put on the Spikes’ roster as a second baseman. The odd thing is that he commited the most errors on that position.
Rookie
Ozhaino Albies
Ozhaino is an animal at bat. So far this season he is hitting a whopping .431. With runners in scoring position he is hitting even better: .643. On the defense side, there is some room for improvement with a fielding percentage of .922. In 36 games he commited 6 errors.
Danny Arribas
Despite the fact that his natural position is third base, the Pittsburgh Pirates see a catche in him. Danny has split time between the positions of catcher and first baseman. Overall he is sporting a fielding percentage of .981. As a catcher he should work on throwing out base stealers. So far he has thrown out only 23% of would be base stealers.
Alex Rodriguez
No this isn’t A-Rod. Alexander A. Rodriguez is a relief pitcher of the Grand Junction Rockies. So far he has seen action in only five games. He averages an earned run per inning, resulting in an ERA of 9.00.
Dutch Baseball Hangout 