Tjerk Smeets

Tjerk Smeets (born 3 June 1980) is a former Dutch

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player for

Kinheim Kinheim is a baseball and softball club based in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Kinheim's top baseball team plays in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the top level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. The club's most successful period was in the ...

and the Dutch national team and technical director of the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB). He is the son of Dutch radio and television personality, writer, and columnist

Mart Smeets Jan Marten “Mart” Smeets (born 11 January 1947, in Arnhem) is a Dutch radio and television personality, writer, and columnist. Television Mart Smeets is a long-time sports presenter and commentator with the Dutch public broadcaster NOS. He i ...

. Smeets played his college baseball at

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1999, he was one for two with a RBI. In 2000, he hit a home run in his only

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

and drew two walks. In 2001, he hit .159/.171/.304 in 30 games. He did homer in a game in which

Middle Tennessee State Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, to ...

set a school record with 8 circuit clouts. Smeets played for the Dutch team in the 2003

World Port Tournament The World Port Tournament was an international baseball tournament held at the ''Neptunus Familiestadion'' in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The tournament was held every other year ( excluded) in odd-numbered years since , alternating with the Haarl ...

, going 1 for 2 with a two-run home run. Because there were only two home runs in the tournament, Smeets won the Home Run King award. In 2005, he hit .326/.433/.439 for the

Amsterdam Pirates SV Amsterdam Pirates, commonly referred to as Amsterdam Pirates, is a Dutch baseball and softball organization based in Amsterdam that plays in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse. It was founded as an expansion of the football club SV Rap on 17 February 1 ...

to finish 6th in the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

in batting average, 7th in OBP and 8th in slugging. He was 8th in walks (23) and tied for third with 3 homers, trailing

Ivanon Coffie Ivanon Angelino Coffie (born 16 May 1977 in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles) is a Dutch baseball player. He made his major league debut in 2000 with the Baltimore Orioles. He appeared in 23 games. Coffie represented the Netherlands at the 2004 ...

and

Dirk van 't Klooster Dirk Gijsbertus van 't Klooster (born 23 April 1976) is a Dutch former baseball player. He is currently a coach for the Amsterdam Pirates of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse. Van 't Klooster represented the Netherlands at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydne ...

. He played for the Netherlands in the 2005 European Championship. Smeets moved to

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 Eugene Humphrey Kingsale (born August 20, 1976) is a Dutch-Aruban former Major League Baseball player with the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, and Detroit Tigers from until . At 6 feet, 3 inches, Kingsale was known as a sl ...

and Sidney de Jong), tied Reily Legito for the RBI lead, was third with 13 doubles (behind

Yuji Nerei Yuji or Yu Ji may refer to: * Yūji, a common masculine Japanese given name * Yu Ji (painter), a Qing dynasty painter and calligrapher * Consort Yu (Xiang Yu's wife) (虞姬; Yuji), the concubine of Xiang Yu, subject of the play ''Farewell My Concu ...

and Fausto Álvarez), tied Kingsale,

Roel Koolen Roel Koolen (born April 20, 1982 in Mierlo) was a Dutch baseball player who used to play for Kinheim and the Dutch national team. Koolen made his Hoofdklasse debut at the Twins Sporting Club in 1998. He played for the Dutch junior team in ...

and

Evert-Jan 't Hoen Evert-Jan Axel Charles 't Hoen (born 8 November 1975 in Alphen aan den Rijn) is a Dutch baseball coach and former player who is the current manager of the Netherlands national baseball team. Playing career Minor League Baseball 't Hoen played ...

for 5th with 27 walks and tied Nerei for 5th with 53 hits. He hit .482 with runners in scoring position. Smeets won the Hoofdklasse MVP award, the 4th 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 The Holland Series is the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is the conclusion of the postseason of Honkbal Hoofdklasse, played between the two winners of the league's playoffs. The serie ...

as Kinheim won the title. Smeets was 0 for 2 in the 2006

Haarlem Baseball Week The Haarlem Baseball Week (, before 2016 known as ) is an international invitation baseball tournament at the in Haarlem, Netherlands. It was first held in and has been held every other year in even-numbered years since . In December 2016, a ...

. In the

2006 Intercontinental Cup The 2006 IBAF Intercontinental Cup was held in Taichung, Taiwan from November 9 through the 19th. Eight countries contested the tournament, which was played at Taichung Baseball Field and the newly built Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium ...

, he was 1 for 4 with a walk and two runs for the silver medalists, backing up de Jong at catcher. In the 2007 Hoofdklasse campaign, Smeets hit .294/.379/.531 with 36 runs and 43 RBI in 36 games and threw out 14 of 30 attempted base-stealers. He hit .300 with a .391 OBP in the playoffs then batted .333/.333/.400 in the

2007 Holland Series The 2007 Holland Series involved the Corendon Kinheim, defeating the Konica Minolta Pioniers in 3 straight games. {{Short pages monitor