Evansville Otters sign Belgian international

Thomas de Wolf, pitcher and outfielder of the Belgian national team and of the Stuttgart Reds was signed by the Evansville Otters of the independent Frontier League.

De Wolf was the first player from Belgium that signed a deal with a Major League organization. In his case he played for the Mets in the Dominican Summer League and the Gulf Coast League. In three seasons he batted .244 with a total of 93 hits, three homeruns, five triples and fifteen doubles.

After Thomas was released by the Mets he moved to Germany to play for the Tübingen Hawks. In 2013 Thomas moved to the Stuttgart Reds. With the Reds, Thomas posted a 3-4 record with an ERA of 5.37 in 12 games in 2015. As a hitter, Thomas batted .448/.566/.851 with nine home runs in 26 games and was named best hitter of the South division of the German first Bundesliga by www.baseball-bundesliga.de, leaving former Reds farm hand Sascha Lutz (who had a cup of tea with the Cincinnati Reds in the bigs in 2013) behind.

Before moving to the US, he played for the Hoboken Pioneers from the Antwerp region.

On the website of the Otters the acquisition is mentioned as they signed an outfielder, so it is unclear if Thomas will be used as pitcher as well.

During last year’s Eurpean Cup, Thomas de Wolf pitched Belgium to their first win of the tournament with a no-hitter in a rain shortened game.  As starting pitcher, Thomas de Wolf pitched six innings. He struck out nine, walked four and hit a batter with a pitch, but… he didn’t allow a hit. This may have very well been the very first Belgian no-hitter pitched during a European Cup.