Curaçao Neptunus presents team for 2015

Tonight, current Dutch champion, Curacao Neptunus from Rotterdam presented their Hoofdklasse team to club members and the press.

Chairman and former Hoofdklasse pitcher Geoffrey Kohl, said some nice words about the former main shirt sponsor DOOR Training (which will remain as sub sponsor at the back of the jerseys) and explained how the contact with the new sponsor Fundashon Bon Intenshon (the foundation that  came to life. Fundashon bon Intenshon is Papiamento for Foundation good Intention. This foundation is active in the areas of sport, music, culture, health care, education, tourism and in the fight against poverty.

During a smooth and comical speech the players were placed in the spotlights one by one. First the speaker started with the three new players that Neptunus added to it’s roster.

– Kenny van den Branden: This pitcher of the Belgian national team came from UVV. Despite playing for one of the weaker teams last year, he had an ERA of only 2.70 and he kept his opponents to a batting average of .220. It shows how talented this kid is.

– Christian Diaz: Diaz came over from ADOLakers after this club ceased to excist. His batting average of .338 (6th) and his slugging percentage of .554 (3rd) show what a good hitter he actually is. In many of the 2014 Hoofdklasse stats he ended in the top ten.

Loek van Mil: The tallest player in this year’s Hoofdklase by far (2.13 m/ 6.98 ft) played in Japan for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles last year. For the biggest part of the season he played for the Golden Eagles’ Ni_Gun team (farm team) but in the final week he had a couple of appearances with the NPB team. In seven games (8.2 innings pitched) he got one loss, allowed four runs on seven hits and posted an ERA of 4.15. He walked as many as he struck out: seven.
After returning from Japan, he came to Neptunus and offered to play for them, something the club from Rotterdam could not refuse. Next to pitching in for the club, he will help the club with training their youth members.

For the biggest part the flagship team has not changed as the core of the team remains the same. The club aims for the threepeat and to win the European Cup. So once again they seem to be the team to beat.