Today, Italian powerhouse Fortitudo Bologna announced through its website it has acquired Aruban outfielder Gilmer Lampe. Lampe played for L&D Amsterdam Pirates in the past two seasons.
Lampe is the first foreign player that Bologna acquires so far, but according to the website, the club pulled off a big coup.
During the Holland Series in which Lampe and his team fell to Curaçao Neptunus, Lampe was the best hitter of the Series with an average of .500. Lampe finished the regular season with a batting average of .374, ranking third behind Benjamin Dille and teammate Danny Rombley.
The fact that Fortitudo Bologna got Lampe implies the club is in a must-win mode. As the club announced, the acquisition of Lampe is only the first of more to come, you can bet the club has more tricks on its sleeves. According to a source, Fortitudo Bologna must win a prize next year, otherwise, the sponsor may turn its back on the club.
Even though Gilmer has played outfield in the Netherlands, his MiLB player page states he is a first baseman. In 2007, Gilmer signed a five-year contract with the Seattle Mariners. But shortly before the start of the 2013 season, the Mariners released him.
Gilmer moved to the Netherlands where he joined UVV from Utrecht, where he played two seasons before joining L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Since Fortitudo Bologna won the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup), the club will participate in the European Champions Cup which will be organized by Curaçao Neptunus next year. Depending on the group both teams will play in, there is a chance Gilmer will play against his former club L&D Amsterdam Pirates.
Gilmer stated he decided to play for Fortitudo Bologna because he has finished his education. He wanted to follow another education but he was too late to subscribe. The next school year will start in September 2018. This gave him a chance to focus on baseball only. In the Netherlands he has to work next to playing baseball, in Italy he can make a living with playing baseball only. So then the choice isn’t hard. The job that Gilmer had was very hard to combine with playing baseball, so his decision makes perfect sense. But Gilmer emphasized that he is very thankful L&D Amsterdam Pirates gave him the chance to play with them and that he is very happy with the way the club dealt with the news about his negotiations with Bologna.
This acquisition is quite a blow for L&D Amsterdam Pirates. Nevertheless, it doesn’t come as a complete surprise for them as Gilmer informed them as soon as he was approached by Bologna. But if everything goes as planned, Gilmer will be back with L&D Amsterdam with the playoffs and the Holland Series eventually.
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