by Pim van Nes

Last week the New York Times published an article about emerging baseball talents from the Netherlands, considering that four Dutch players are active in the Major Leagues: outfielders Andruw Jones with Los Angeles Dodgers and Wladimir Balentien with the Seattle Mariners, pitchers Jair Jurrjens with the Atlanta Braves and Sidney Ponson with the Texas Rangers. Another Major League pitcher, Rick van den Hurk, is recovering with Florida Marlins AA affiliate in Carolina.

More over on Triple A level infielder Yurendel de Caster plays for the Washington Nationals and Sharnol Adriana in Mexico. At Double A pitcher Shairon Martis and outfielder Roger Bernadina do very well for again the Nationals and well defending shortstop Hainley Statia is improving his batting and slugging for the Los Angeles Angels. At two levels within Single A Netherlands manager Robert Eenhoorn follows closely the progress made by pitchers Alexander Smit with the Cincinnati Reds and Loek van Mil with the Minnesota Twins, catchers Kenley Jansen with the Dodgers and Ulrich Snijders with the Milwaukee Brewers, infielder Sharlon Schoop with the San Francisco Giants and outfielders Gregory Halman and Kalian Sams with the Seattle Mariners.

The flattering article in the New York Times, holding interviews with coach Robert Eenhoorn and player Eugene Kingsale, both former USA Major Leaguers, within two days was followed by strong performances by all Netherlands pitchers active in American Major and Minor Leagues: Jurrjens, Ponson, Martis, Smit and Van Mil. Four of them are weekly starters in their club's rotation, only Van Mil as a reliever has a higher frequency of appearances on the mound for less innings.

Ponson (31) last week exceeded his 1600 innings in his eleventh Major League season. This year he signed with the Texas Rangers after having been released early last season by the Twins. Ponson's fifth start for the Rangers was last week in a road game versus the very same Twins and his revenge became a complete game resulting in a 10-1 victory for Ponson and his new teammates. His record amount to three wins and nil losses in five starts and his ERA is as low as 2.95 (edit: until Monday, when he allowed five runs on twelve hits in five innings against the Rays for his first loss of the season). His latest Rangers game was also his 29th complete game and his 89th win as a pitcher. Ponson already played for the Orioles, the Giants, the Yankees and the Cardinals in the Majors.

Simultaneously Jair Jurrjens (22) started his 10th game for the Atlanta Braves, after having been traded last year by the Detroit Tigers. This club gave him his Major League debut on August 15, 2007 and in his first season he totalized three wins and one loss as a starting pitcher. Last week Jurrjens worked during seven innings on the mound for the Braves versus the New York Mets allowing them only one earned run. The Braves beat the Mets 11-4 and Jurrjens got his fifth win of this year, downing his era to 2.64. In his 61 innings so far he recorded 50 hits, including only one homerun, dating back from over a month ago. Edit: On Monday he was on the mound for 4 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits, three runs and two walks in a no-decision versus the Diamondbacks.

On Double A level, Shairon Martis (21) joined his Major League compatriots in the NY Times prediction week with another low ERA game for his Harrisburg Senators: two earned runs in five innings. Nevertheless he had to take the loss as starting pitcher in his ninth game as such this season. He booked three wins and two losses after 47 innings averaging 3.04. In Class A Advanced Alexander Smit (22) last week played his best game of the season for the Sarasota Reds shutting out their opponents during his six innings. Smit is coming back after a difficult start in April being defeated twice in his two first starts. On May 12 he tied his record 3-3 and exactly last week he got to 4-3 ahead in the count. Relief pitcher Loek van Mil (23) also recorded an ERA of 0.00 in last week's game for Beloit Snappers, but so he has done six times in his latest ten outings on the mound. So far he is undefeated, collecting two saves and even one win and keeping his ERA down at 2.01.

Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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www.sporttribune.nl
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