The Dutch Baseball Association KNBSB announced that Rik van den Hork will take over as the new head coach on Wednesday. The baseball icon ended his impressive career last month at the age of 36.
“I feel my job is to be able to share the knowledge and experience I have gained in my baseball career with the new generation of talent within the Team Kingdom of the Netherlands,” says Van den Hurk, who succeeded Tjerk Smeets.
“I want to translate my more than twenty years of experience in this field into a technical policy that matches today’s baseball and the KNBSB. I am convinced that my experience with different management methods within baseball organizations and my international network will help. It will contribute to putting Dutch baseball back on the map” .
Van den Hork is considered one of the best Dutch baseball players of all time. He started his career with the Twins in Oosterhout and signed his first professional contract in the United States when he was 16 years old. In 2007, the bowler made his debut on behalf of the Florida Marlins (the predecessor of the Miami Marlins) in Major League Baseball (MLB), the largest league baseball in the world.
Furthermore, Van den Hork played for the Florida Marlins, Baltimore Orioles, and Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2013, he left for Asia, where he became a star. He played for the South Korean Samsung Lions, Japan’s SoftBank Hawks and Yakult Swallows.
Because of his early step abroad, van den Hork did not often play for the Dutch team. Only in 2009 and 2017, he participated with the Orange team in the World Baseball Classic.
Rick van den Hork is one of the best Dutch baseball players of all time.
Rick van den Hork is one of the best Dutch baseball players of all time.
picture: AP
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