Good news for Wladimir Balentien from Tokyo. Even though the Yakult Swallows stated that they were not quite happy with his defense the team has made him a new contract offer. At the end of the season the Swallows said that Coco’s high salary was a limitation and that they would consider to sign him…
Yesterday, Tom de Blok threw some pitches in a test session for the Rakuten Golden Eagles. The 20-year old, hard throwing Dutch reliever has drawn the attention of the 2014 NPB champion from Sendai a while ago. After the success of Rick van den Hurk with the Softbank Hawks, Japanese teams start to roam the…
In yesterday’s blogpost, I wrote about several players that can be put on the roster of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. But later I realized that I forgot a few and that I may have made a mistake a couple of players. This morning I saw this possible WBC…
After yesterday’s loss vs Mexico, team Samurai Japan had to settle a score. They did in a very convincing way as they beat Mexico 11-4 in quite a lopsided game. After the Japanese had taken a 2-0 lead, Mexico got on the board in the bottom of the second inning as the central Americans scored…
In a game with nothing at stake but bragging rights, Mexico walked away with a 7-3 win vs team Samurai Japan. In the Tokyo Dome the Mexicans fielded a team of mainly AAA players. For a long time the game was rather close as Japan stayed within a two run distance most of the game…
Wladimir Balentien, who has played for the Yakult Swallows in the past six years is trying to get a deal with his club for another year and perhaps more. But the Swallows are having their doubts. Not only are they worried about the fact that Balentien is injury prone, they also are not happy with…
Yesterday you could read here that the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles had shown interest in L&D Amsterdam Pirates pitcher Tom de Blok. The 20-year old can easily throw a 93 mph fastball and that is always something interesting for a baseball club, especially in times in which the focus is on speed. After posting…
According to the Japanese sports website nikkansports.com, Tom de Blok appears to attract a lot of attention of a Japanese team. With the success of Rick van den Hurk in Japan, it seems that the NPB is looking further than the USA and Central and South America. Now teams seem to check out the European…
A solid outing over 5.2 innings by former Dodgers and Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda was not enough to clinch the win for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Over 5.2 innings Tanaka allowed one earned run. Eventually the Carp fell 4-3 to the Nippon Ham Fighters in ten innings, who got back in the series thanks to…
Former Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees pitcher Hiroki Kuroda has announced his retirement. The work horse will hang up his spikes after the upcoming Nippon Series in which Kuroda’s team, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp will take on the Nippon Ham Fighters. Kuroda made the announcement during a press conference last night. Before the…
