Belgian baseball federation

The 5th annual 2012 MLB Academies Tournament will be played in Regensburg, Germany from March 31 to April 6 – the third consecutive year the event will be held at Armin Wolf Arena. The teams on hand will be Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden, Italy, Czech Republic and Austria.
heinnews talked to the coaches in charge of the teams to get a run-down on what international baseball fans can expect from the tournament – and the future.
Belgium coach Christophe Dassey is responsible for the South academy while Filip Van Der Meiren is in charge of the North academy. Dassey offer this description of his team:

Looking over your roster, who do you see as some of your top players and maybe you can tell me a bit about those players and how high can they go in professional baseball?
In the South this year, we should be great. The top prospect from our academy this year will be Thomas Vandenabeele – a switch hitting, left-handed throwing utility player and should be the best hitter on the team. He runs well, has good instincts and is very mature at the plate. He gained some power and has pulled the ball a few times this pre-season which he rarely did in the past.

Tom Gerard is our top defensive catcher. He is a switch-hitter too but his hitting is behind his defensive game. He receives well, blocks very well and throws okay. I believe is he only 16, though so he is still a young guy in the group. He still needs to grow physically to compete at that level.

Neither of these two seem to be bound for professional levels in my view.

Cyprien Dussenne, a 14-year-old utility player, has pretty good potential but it’s tough to predict where he will end up. Physically, he will surely be overmatched, but it will be good for him to taste the level he should aim for.

Filip has more talent on his side. Not sure how many of his players have realistic pro chances though.

– – – – –

Roster as of 21 March 2012

NR Academy Name First name DOB POS H/T H W
10 North VERDUYCKT LUIGI 11.04.1994 LHP L/L 177 65
50 South GOYENS VIRGILES 11.03.1995 RHP R/R 183 74
63 North VAN GAEVER BRIAN 19.06.1995 RHP R/R 184 80
51 North VAN DEN HEUVEL JORDY 12.09.1995 LHP L/L 185 71
53 South DESPREMONT STEPHANE 11.12.1995 LHP L/L 188 74
2 North VAN ROYEN ARNE 05.01.1996 RHP R/R 183 68
52 North DE PERMENTIER MATTHEW 08.02.1996 RHP R/R 171 74
3 North VAN DE WALLE ROBIN 04.06.1996 LHP L/L 169 56
4 North DRIESSENS ARTUUR 27.06.1996 RHP R/R 183 63
5 North KUENEN DAAN 01.07.1996 RHP R/R 180 60
6 South DUSSENNE CYPRIEN 05.09.1997 RHP R/R 175 57
54 South GERARD TOM 30.08.1995 C R/R 173 65
7 North POESMANS AXEL 07.02.1996 C R/R 174 62
56 North VAN NUFFEL BEN 01.05.1993 IF/RHP R/R 185 75
72 North VERAGHTERT TIM 04.03.1994 IF R/R 175 79
55 North TAUWIL NASSER 05.05.1995 IF/1B R/R 175 75
57 South LAMOTTE ADRIEN 26.12.1995 IF R/R 174 57
8 North BALLARDINI LINO 05.01.1996 IF/RHP R/R 180 69
11 North BOYELEBA BALEHEN JEREMY 04.03.1997 IF R/R 176 68
71 South VANDENABEELE THOMAS 06.10.1993 OF/LHP S/L 183 73
58 North DOM KENNY 27.09.1995 OF R/R 177 70
9 North BUELENS SAM 27.12.1995 OF/2B R/R 174 61
15 North POESMANS YVES 07.02.1996 OF/RHP R/R 168 62
COACHES
MARTER SERGE
WERNER RAY
RUTS RIK

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1 Comment

  1. guest says:

    I like those European Teams in the BENELUX region. MLB came this close to hiring Brant Ust. Maybe MLB can hire Robbie DeJongh and Terence Antonacci.

 
 

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