Tom de Blok returns with loss

Yesterday, Dutchie Tom de Blok made his first appearance after an injury. Tom started the game for the Lakeland Flying Tigers against the Florida FireFrogs. He had a decent outing but did not get the necessary run support.

The last game that De Blok played was on August 4 vs the Dayton Dragons. In four innings he had a good outing in which he struck out two and gave up only two hits. But before he returned to the mound in the fifth inning, he was kept in the dugout because of an unknown injury.

That injury kept him sidelined until yesterday. In yesterday’s start, Tom lasted five innings in which he allowed two runs on four hits and two walks and struck out one.
Since Tom can hit more than 90 MPH, that one strikeout seems to be on the low side but perhaps he has learned to add more variety to his pitch arsenal. And besides that, it was only his first game. Tom limited yesterday’s opponent to a batting average of .222 and posted a WHIP of 1.20.

As written in the prologue, Tom did not get the much-needed run support, so he was tabbed for the loss. His opponent, Nolan Kingham, pitched a three-hitter, didn’t issue a walk and struck out five. With this win, Kingham’s record is now 1-1.

In his debuting season, De Blok posted a 2.74 ERA as he played at two levels (Advanced Rookie and A Full Season). In 2018, the former reliever, struggled somewhat as he posted a 4.71 ERA as he played for the A Full Season West Michigan WhiteCaps and the A-Advanced Lakeland Flying Tigers.

After Tom decided to return to home in his first minor league stint (with the Seattle Mariners DSL team) he got a second chance after a good performance during the 2017 World Baseball Classic as he represented the Kingdom of the Netherlands and pitched two innings in which he allowed just one hit, kept his ERA at 0.00 and posted a 0.50 WHIP.