Belgian Transactions for 2025: Merchtem Cats

It’s that time of the year again to pay attention to the transaction in the Belgian Division 1. This time, we pay attention to the Merchtem Cats.

The core of the team is staying together, after a previous off season in which many players left. But the 2025 squad will add three new players and a new head coach, who is one of the three new players as well.

The first new addition is Rusty Huber. Rusty played three seasons with the Cats until 2022. In his final season with the Cats, Rusty posted a 10-5 W-L record with a 1.78 ERA. The righty struck out 129 batters.

The second addition is also a familiar face to the club: catcher Zac Olila played two seasons for the Cats, several years ago.

The third addition combines playing the outfield with being head coach. Frank Prieto played for the Deurne Spartans in the previous four seasons. Over those four seasons, Frank batted .333 ( .333 in 2021, .354 in 2022, .288 in 2023, and .354 in 2024). Frank is not a thoroughbred power hitter but his bat has some pop. Over the past four seasons, he clubbed nine home runs and a total of twenty-nine doubles. Frank can play all three outfield positions.

I’d like to thank Frank Prieto for providing the much needed information to write this blog post.

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