Just like earlier this year, the Dutch Baseball Hangout would like to pay attention to the transactions in the Belgian Baseball Gold (BBG) League. The transaction period in Belgium ended at December 1, so time to start with the first blog post.
The 2021 Borgerhout Squirrels will receive a couple of new players. Normally, during a transaction period, players will leave as well, but this year this was not the case. According to Yannick Gontier, the responsible person for the flagship team of the Borgerhout Squirrels, this proves that the team is very close. Hopefully, this group will stay together for the coming years, so the club can build a solid team.
The new players that will join the ranks of the Squirrels are:
Sander de Saedeleer is coming from Mortsel Stars, which is located at the South side of the Antwerp Airport. He is a youngster and brother of Squirrels’ third baseman Cedric Vandesompele. He will be mainly used in the infield but he can be used as an overall utility player for the team that is located at the North side of the Antwerp Airport.
Wesley Verlest has left Deurne Spartans to reinforce the ranks of the farm team of the Borgerout Squirrels but likely he will also be part of the pitching staff of the flagship team when possible.
Unfortunately, these player profiles cannot be completed with stats as the KBBSF did not keep stats during the corona-shortened season of 2020.
Also the coaching staff has a new face in Mike de Vriendt. Just like Wesley Verlest, Mike is coming from neighboring Deurne Spartans. The addition of Mike should improve the coaching staff and should give a boost to the youth players. Mike is a good baseball strategist and is a good communicator with players.
Squirrels want that players, who have been playing with the club for many years and grabbed the opportunity last season, will fight their way into the flagship team’s roster.
Next to these additions, Squirrels plans to add a foreign pitcher but it remains to be seen if that is possible due to COVID-19.
I’d like to thank Yannick Gontier for the time he spent to answer the questions.
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