Phoenix Mont-Saint-Guibert – Dutch Baseball Hangout
On December 15, 2023, the transaction period in Belgium ended. Time to sum up the new players and leaving players for each Division 1 team. We continue with last year’s number 6 in the final standings: Phoenix Mont-Saint-Guibert.
Phoenix MSG lost quite some players, but got quite a bit in return as well. To quote manager Christophe Dassy: Carlos Nunez, who came over to Europe to finish his second master, returned to Mexico and got a job. Jamie Flynn left the club. Ben Tsui, Garrett Moltzan, Ramiro Peralta returned to their job in their respective countries. Nabil and Nasser Tauil also left because the commuting was getting difficult to combine with work and family. Last but not least, the team will miss the leadership of Cedric Nauts who hung up his cleats last season.
Despite the losses, the club added four players from outside of the club.
First of all, Andres Ybarra. Andres pitched for the Sunville Tigers in the previous seasons, in Division 1 in 2022. In 2022, he posted a 1-8 record with a 5.32 ERA but according Christophe Dassy, Andres pitched a lot better than his stats indicate.
An import player from France is Clement Noblet, who played with the Metz Cometz from the French Division 1. In nineteen games, Noblet batted .219 with one double. Clement will pick up a study in Belgium and therefore joins Mont-Saint-Guibert.
Oliver Mauën is coming over from the Brussels Kangaroos, who opted to step down to division 2 in 2023, after playing two seasons at the highest Belgian level. Infielder Mauën batted a modest .125 in 2022. In division 2, he didn’t improve his batting average by much as he batted .182. On the defensive side, Oliver committed five errors in twelve games in 2023. Oliver will likely start the season in Division 2.
In eighteen-year old pitcher Ryan Denachtergael, Phoenix gets a talent from the Braine Black Rickers. Ryan posted a 4-1 record in Division 2 in 2023 but his ERA was on the high side with 11.57. The intention is to let him start in Division 2 so he can develop his skills.
Many more additions are in house additions. Geoffrey Haesaert, David Nunez, Xavier Pierreux, Alexandre Dhallewin and will move up from D2 to D1 to provide some experience and stability to a group that featured only a couple players above 19 years old in a number of games last season. Also added from D2 to D1 are outfielder Florian Colle and pitcher Tomasz Oberto Silva who sported a 0,67 ERA in D2 last season. The team will also enjoy the return to action of Quentin Devreese after a one year hiatus.
The club is looking to add an import hitter who would also help with the development of hitters at all levels of the club.
I’d like to thank manager Christophe Dassy for the much needed information towrite this blog post.
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