Van den Hurk reports at new club

Rick van den Hurk arrived in Japan yesterday to join his new team, the Softbank Hawks from Fukuoka. Shortly after his arrival he joined a training session and introduced himself to his new team members.

Today the six time Japnanese champion organized a press conference to introduce the 29-year old Dutch RHP.

During the last two seasons, Van den Hurk played in the KBO (Korea) for the Samsung Lions. In these two season he has gotten better, according to him because he adapted his mechanics.

Van den Hurk stated that the choice for the Fukuoka based team was not hard. A great city, a great team with a rich history and good coaches.

Next week the team will head to Okinawa to start spring training. Van den Hurk will have a lot to do next to the training itself. Dutch team members Andruw Jones and Wladimir Balentien have told him some things about baseball in Japan, but of course that is still not enough to get prepared. “I will study the batters. I will talk with the pitchers of my team to get more information about the opponents. And I will try to learn the language. That is important to communicate and it makes it a lot easier to adapt to the country.”

Rick van den Hurk will be the team mate of former Boston Red Sox and New York Mets pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka. Other probables for a spot in the rotation are Jason Standridge, Tadashi Settsu and Kenichi Nakata.

When I look to the stadium where the Hawks are playing, I can imagine that this was another reason to sign with this team.

Yahuoku! Dome, home of the Softbank Hawks