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Tjerk Smeets

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Tjerk Smeets
Catcher
Born: (1980-06-03) 3 June 1980 (age 46)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Men's baseball
Representing  Netherlands
Intercontinental Cup
Silver medal – second place2006 TaiwanNational team
European Baseball Championship
Gold medal – first place2005 Czech RepublicNational team
Gold medal – first place2007 SpainNational team

Tjerk Marten Smeets (born 3 June 1980) is a Dutch former baseball catcher who played for the Netherlands national team in the 2008 Summer Olympics and other international competitions as well as the Honkbal Hoofdclasse. He was the technical director of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB) and technical manager of football club AFC Ajax.

Playing career

[edit]

Smeets played his college baseball for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in the United States. In 1999, he was 1-for-2 with one run batted in (RBI).[1] In 2000, he hit a home run in his only at bat and drew two walks.[2] In 2001, he hit for a .159/.256/.304 slash line with three home runs in 30 games.[3]

Smeets first played for the Dutch national team in the 2003 World Port Tournament, going 1-for-2 with a two-run home run. Because there were only two home runs in the tournament, he won the Home Run King award.[4][5][6]

In 2005, he hit .326 for the Amsterdam Pirates to finish sixth in the Hoofdklasse in batting average. He tied for third with three homers, trailing Ivanon Coffie and Dirk van 't Klooster.[7] He played for the Netherlands in the 2005 European Baseball Championship.[8]

Smeets moved to Kinheim in 2006 and batted .349/.446/.454 with 36 RBI in 41 games and fielded .996 at catcher. He was 7th in average, 6th in slugging, third in OBP (behind Eugene Kingsale and Sidney de Jong), tied Reily Legito for the RBI lead, was third with 13 doubles (behind Yuki Nerei [ja] and Fausto Álvarez [nl]), tied Kingsale, Roel Koolen and Evert-Jan 't Hoen for 5th with 27 walks and tied Nerei for 5th with 53 hits.[citation needed] Smeets hit .482 with runners in scoring position. He won the Hoofdklasse MVP award,[9] the fourth catcher so honored. He was 2-for-12 in the playoffs but 9-for-21 with 3 walks and five runs in five games in the Holland Series[citation needed] as Kinheim won the title.[10]

Smeets was 0-for-2 in the 2006 Haarlem Baseball Week.[11] In the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, he was 1-for-4 with a walk and two runs for the silver medalists, backing up de Jong at catcher.[12]

In the 2007 Hoofdklasse season, Smeets hit .294/.379/.531 with 36 runs and 43 RBI in 36 games and threw out 14 of 30 attempted base-stealers. Smeets was fourth in slugging percentage, second to Alvarez in home runs (with 7), tied with Benjamin Dille for fifth in runs (36), first in RBI (six ahead of Martijn Meeuwis) and tied for fourth in doubles (13).[citation needed] With Kinheim, Smeets batted .263/.391/.316 for Kinheim in the 2007 European Cup, its first European Cup title ever. In the championship game, Smeets was 1-for-5 with two walks and a timely hit by pitch.[13] He hit .300 with a .391 OBP in the playoffs then batted .333/.333/.400 in the 2007 Holland Series.[citation needed] He scored their first run in their successful championship defense and had three hits in Game 1;[14] in Game 2, he was thrown out trying to score in a key play but Kinheim rallied to win.[citation needed]

Smeets was 2-for-8 for the national team in the 2007 World Port Tournament, striking out four times.[15] In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, he was 3-for-6 with a homer, playing in two of the team's 10 games.[16] Smeets batted .421/.476/.526 to help Kinheim win the 2008 European Cup in Grosseto. His 7 RBI tied for the lead.[citation needed] He had the big hit of the competition: down 2–1 in the bottom of the 10th inning in the championship game, Smeets doubled in René Cremer and Dirk van 't Klooster with a shot off of Lincoln Mikkelsen.[17] Smeets had fouled off several pitches before the double.[18]

Smeets played for the Netherlands at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[19] He went hitless in four at bat over three games.[20]

Post-playing career

[edit]

Smeets retired from Kinheim after the 2010 season. In 2011, he became the manager of Dutch club RCH-Pinguins [nl] in Heemstede.[21] During this time, he also worked as a marketing manager for the KNBSB.[22]

In October 2013, he became the technical manager of football team AFC Ajax.[23] In 2017, he became the technical director of the KNBSB.[9] He stepped down from that role in 2021.[24] He has also been a coach for the Netherlands national team at the 2011 Baseball World Cup,[25] 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC),[26] and 2023 WBC.[27]

Personal life

[edit]

During the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics, Smeets proposed to his girlfriend, Dutch field hockey gold medalist, Minke Smabers, who accepted.[28] They has two sons.[29] His wife was teammates with her sister, Hanneke Smabers, when the Dutch won the bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics.[30][31]

Smeets is the son of Dutch radio and television personality, writer, and columnist Mart Smeets.[32][4]

Smeets attended high school at Fons Vitae Lyceum [nl] in Amsterdam. He attended Middle Tennessee State University due to his friendship with the school's basketball coach, former Dutch national basketball team coach Randy Wiel.[33]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "1999 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders". The Baseball Cube. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  2. ↑ "2000 Baseball Stats Final". Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  3. ↑ "2002 Baseball Media Guide" (PDF). Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. p. 22. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  4. 1 2 "Tjerk Smeets". Honkbalsite Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  5. ↑ "World Port Tournament 2003". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  6. ↑ "Raily Legito uitgeroepen tot MVP". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). 7 July 2003. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  7. ↑ Stoovelaar, Marco. "Baseball Statistical Leaders 2005". Grand Slam - Stats & News. Archived from the original on 2006-12-30. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  8. ↑ "European Baseball Championship". 2007-03-24. Archived from the original on 2007-03-24. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  9. 1 2 Visser, Seb (2017-12-22). "KNBSB stelt Tjerk Smeets aan als Technisch Directeur". HonkbalSoftbal.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  10. ↑ "2006 Holland Series". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 2026-08-05.
  11. ↑ "Organisatie tevreden met 23e editie". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). 2006. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  12. ↑ "Statistieken Nederland". Honkbalsite archief. 2006. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  13. ↑ "Kinheim wint Europa Cup". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). 15 June 2007. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  14. ↑ "2007 Holland Series". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  15. ↑ "Statistieken Nederland". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). 2007. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  16. ↑ "Statistieken Nederland". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). 2007. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  17. ↑ "Smeets bezorgt Kinheim tweede Cup-winst". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). 22 June 2008. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  18. ↑ van Nes, Pim (22 June 2008). "'Het leek wel een schaakwedstrijd'". Honkbalsite archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  19. ↑ Dutch Olympic Baseball squad 2008 Archived 2008-08-04 at the Wayback Machine, knbsb.nl, ret: Aug 5, 2008
  20. ↑ "Official Results 2008 page 90". LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  21. ↑ "Smeets nieuwe hoofdcoach RCH-Pinguïns". Honkbalsite archief. 2010-11-05. Archived from the original on 2010-11-05. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  22. ↑ "Smeets: 'Honkbal moet in Nederlands DNA komen'". AD. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  23. ↑ "Smeets teammanager Ajax, nieuwe functie Endt". AD (in Dutch). 3 July 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  24. ↑ Visser, Seb (2021-12-14). "Tjerk Smeets stopt als Technisch Directeur van de KNBSB". HonkbalSoftbal.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  25. ↑ "2011 Baseball World Cup Final Report". ibaf.org. p. 16. Archived from the original on 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  26. ↑ "Final WBC-roster Dutch Team announced". Grand Slam * Stats & News Netherlands. February 22, 2013. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  27. ↑ "Kingdom of the Netherlands 2023 World Baseball Classic Roster". Fastball On SI. 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  28. ↑ "Aanzoek tijdens sluitingsceremonie". Sportwereld.nl. AD. 25 August 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-27. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  29. ↑ Visser, Seb (2018-01-26). "Tjerk Smeets terug op het oude nest". HonkbalSoftbal.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  30. ↑ "Minke Smabers". Olympedia. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  31. ↑ "Hanneke Smabers". Olympedia. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  32. ↑ van Zon, Rogier (2016-09-05). "Mart en Tjerk Smeets commentatoren tijdens EK honkbal". HonkbalSoftbal.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  33. ↑ "2001 Baseball Media Guide" (PDF). Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. p. 17. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
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