Dirk van 't Klooster
From BR Bullpen
Dirk Gijsbertus van 't Klooster
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 3", Weight 185 lb.
- Born April 23, 1976 in Amsterdam The Netherlands
Outfielder Dirk van' t Klooster has been a major star in Hoofdklasse and a long-time presence on Dutch national teams, dating back to 1994, when he played for them in the World Junior Championships. In 1997, van 't Klooster was a pitcher for RCH, going 2-3 with a 7.05 ERA; he would be an outfielder primarily thereafter. During the 1998 Baseball World Cup, he hit .421/.442/.526 with 11 RBI while rotating between DH, first base and right field. During the 1999 World Port Tournament, van 't Klooster hit .222/~.262/.222 for the winning Netherlands team. He was 0 for 4 with 5 walks and two runs for the Gold-winning Dutch in the 1999 European Championship. In the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, he was 1 for 12 with four strikeouts.
In 2000, van 't Klooster hit .349, fifth in Hoofdklasse and led the league with four triples. He played in the 2000 Olympics and hit .350, slugging .650 and holding his own with Olympic legends like Orestes Kindelan and Omar Linares while clearly being the top hitter on a team which included ex-major-leaguers Rikkert Faneyte, Hensley Meulens and Robert Eenhoorn. In the 2001 Baseball World Cup, he hit .262/.326/.286 as a CF/RF for the Netherlands. In the 2001 World Port Tournament, he batted .432/~.488/.514 with 9 runs in 9 games for the Silver Medalists to win MVP honors. He had the best average in the event. In the 2001 European Championship, Dirk only hit .194/.333/.194 for the lowest average and slugging percentage on the Gold Medal winners.
In 2002, the Neptunus outfielder won the Hoofdklasse batting crown with a .376 mark and led with 74 hits. In the 2002 Intercontinental Cup, he batted .136/.208/.227 as one of the worst producers on the Dutch squad; he did have three outfield assists. He won honors as the tourney's Outstanding Defensive Player. In '03, Neptunus won its fifth consecutive title with Dirk hitting .350, third in the league; he was also third with 34 runs and 57 hits. He hit .278/~.278/.389 for the winning Dutch team in the 2003 European Championship. He was 2 for 8 with a walk in the 2003 Baseball World Cup, splitting right field with Glenn Romney and Harvey Monte. In the 2003 World Port Tournament, van 't Klooster hit .176/~.176/.208 as the least-effective Dutch position player. Dirk batted .358 in 2004 and Neptunus became the first club in the history of the dutch major league to win six straight titles. Van 't Klooster was second in average and led in hits (57). He also played for the Netherlands in the 2004 Olympics.
The 2005 season was his best yet. At age 29, he hit .403/.459/.597 and led the league in average, hits (71), runs (44), doubles (15) and total bases (105) while finishing second in RBI (34, one behind Evert-Jan 't Hoen) and homers (five, three behind Ivanon Coffie). He won the league MVP award. Neptunus won yet another title as they continued to establish the greatest dynasty in national history. In the 2005 Baseball World Cup, van 't Klooster hit .395/.395/.526 as the Netherlands made their first semifinals ever.
Representing The Netherlands in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, he hit .286/.375/.429 with 3 RBI to tie Randall Simon for the team lead. The team's top outfielder, he outproduced the far more famous Andruw Jones and Yurendell de Caster, who had just been named Winter League Player of the Year.
In 2006, Dirk moved to Corendon Kinheim and missed six games after testing positive in a test for cannabis. He had been suspended earlier for drug use, but had appealed. He slipped to .318/.359/.386, missing the league's top 10 in average.
In the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, he hit .458/.458/.583 to finish fifth in average, right behind Osmani Urrutia. In the 2007 European Cup, van 't Klooster hit just .227/.227/.364 for Kinheim but hit a homer in the 3-1 win in the finals that gave Kinheim its first European Cup title.
On July 29, 2007, van 't Klooster played in his 163rd official game for the Dutch national team, tying Marcel Joost's record. It was a successful show for the Dutch, who beat the US college national team 9-3 in the final game of a unprecedented 3-game series in the US. It was just the Netherlands' 4th against the US in the past 25 contests (a five-year period). van 't Klooster was 1 for 4 with a run in the game.
van 't Klooster hit .360/.419/.424 in 2007 Hoofdklasse with 44 runs in 40 games. He was 6th in the league in average, tied Danny Rombley for the run lead, was 7th in RBI (32) and second in hits (62). He was 8 for 21 in the playoffs and 4 for 11 with 5 walks, 2 runs and 3 RBI in the 2007 Holland Series as he played on the Holland Series winner for yet another season, having helped Kinheim win two straight after 7 in a row for Neptunus.
van 't Klooster hit .308/.471/.308 for the Dutch team in the 2007 European Championship, which they won to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. He was 6 for 27 with a walk in the 2007 World Port Tournament. In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, Dirk batted .324/.375/.459 with a team-leading 9 RBI for the 4th-place Dutch entry. He drove in one of the two Netherlands runs in their win over Cuba, the first time a European team had ever beaten Cuba in a Baseball World Cup. van 't Klooster had been on the only prior Dutch team to beat Cuba when they did so in the 2000 Olympics.
In 2008, van 't Klooster was decked with a 10-game suspension for his role in a large brawl between Kinheim and Neptunus on May 18. Dirk hit .435/.417/.478 in the 2008 European Cup to lead Kinheim to the title; he drove in 7 runs to tie for the Cup lead. His 10 hits also tied for the most.
Van 't Klooster was one of the better Dutch performers in the 2008 Olympics, going 4 for 12 despite five strikeouts. He made no errors in the outfield and had an assist, gunning down Hongbo Zhang when he tried to stretch a single into a double.
Van 't Klooster's run of 8 straight Holland Series titles (2000-2007) ended in 2008 when his Kinheim club was swept in the finals by the Amsterdam Pirates.
Sources include 2001-2006 Baseball Almanacs, Marco Stoovelaar's page on Dutch baseball, Worldbaseballclassic.com, 2005 Baseball World Cup site, IBAF website, Mister Baseball, 2008 European Cup Kinheim stats, 2008 Olympics
