Today the Nippon Series takes off. The contestants are rather unexpected: The Yakult Swallows and the Orix Buffaloes. Both teams resided near the bottom of the standings at the half of the season. The Series will be played in a best-of-seven format in which the Buffaloes will play four home games (1, 2, 6, and…
A few weeks ago, Curaçao native Wladimir Balentien posted a somewhat mysterious Tweet about things having an end. Yours truly’s first thought was “He is retiring.” But from there no new Tweet or answer to the questions that came after that specific Tweet. The specific Tweet, Wladimir Balentien started all confusion with, is shown below….
Rick van den Hurk made his debut with the Yakult Swallows today. The circumstances were far from ideal as the rain came down pouring. If it was because of the rain is not sure but of all teams, Rick did not bring his A game against the DeNA Baystars, the team with the worst record…
It has been announced that Curaçao-born Wladimir Balentien will be added to the NPB roster of the SoftBank Hawks. This will happen on May 18. The other day, Wladimir Balentien came up with a somewhat vague Tweet, saying that God’s timing is perfect. El tiempo De Dios es perfecto — Wladimir coco balentien (@cocobalentien) May…
Still with the Ni-Gun team of the Yakult Swallows, Rick van den Hurk is slowly warming up. With Wladimir Balentien, it is quite the opposite. Until today, Rick had pitched in three games, allowed six earned runs and struck out seven. Today, against the DeNa BayStars, Rick pitched four innings in relief. He was very…
For the second time after being presented by the Yakult Swallows, last Monday, Rick van den Hurk took the mound in a Ni-Gun (minor league) game. The Tokyo Yakult Swallows lost to Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 5-4. Two of these runs were given up by Dutch Rick van den Hurk. After pitching three scoreless innings,…
It was a perfect day to present some new players. With no games on Monday, the Yakult Swallows had all the time to present their newest (foreign) acquisitions. Next to Dutchie Rick van den Hurk, the club presented pitcher Cy Sneed, outfielder Domingo Santana and infielder José Osuna. Pitcher Cy Sneed pitched two seasons in…
Wladimir Balentien is back in Japanese baseball. Not at the highest level yet. In today’s Ni-Gun (Minor League) game vs the Chunichi Dragons, he made his presence felt. After arriving in Japan in the end of March, Wladimir Balentien had to pass two weeks in quarintine. He joined the SoftBank Hawks on the thirteenth of…
The SoftBank Hawks have called up Carter Stewart Jr, the pitcher that did not sign with the Atlanta Braves after the 2018 draft, but decided to head to Japan to join the SoftBank Hawks. Stewart was considered one of the top prospects for the 2018 Major League Baseball draft, and was drafted by the Atlanta Braves with the…
Last week you could read here about the Yakult Swallows chasing Dutch pitcher Rick van den Hurk to bolster their rotation. Today the news was released that the 35-year old was signed by the “other” team from Tokyo. The Swallows signed Van den Hurk for 79 Million Yen, which comes close to $750,000. So with…
