AMSTERDAM - Former Major League pitcher Rick van den Hurk is the new Head of Baseball Operations for the Royal Dutch Baseball Federation.
Earlier this year van den Hurk announced his retirement from professional baseball after 19 years in Minor and Major League Baseball, the Korean Baseball Organization and Nippon Professional Baseball. The right-hander pitched for the Florida Marlins, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball before making the move to Asian baseball. With the Samsung Lions (South Korea), the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows (Japan) he won eight national championships. That makes 'The Holland Hammer' one of the most successful Dutch baseball players of all time.
After a long career as a pitcher van den Hurk is now excited to take on a new challenge as Head of Baseball Operations: "It feels like my mission to convey the knowledge and experience I gathered throughout my baseball career to a new generation of talents within Team Kingdom of the Netherlands. I want to translate over 20 years of baseball experience into a technical policy that fits modern baseball and the Dutch Federation.
I am convinced that my experience with different styles of management within a multitude of baseball organizations and the international network that I've built up during my career, will help put Dutch baseball back on the map. This starts in the grass roots with local clubs and the output of talents within the national development programs. The target is clear: to get the Dutch youth to play baseball.
Besides this it is my opinion that we have to make sure our national teams get more playing time on the global level, as is common in Asia and the United States. We've been in the top 10 of the World Rankings for years now with Team Kingdom of the Netherlands. This is a good example of how strong we are as a Kingdom with players and staff from the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten.
With the tournaments that are coming up for our youth and senior teams in both baseball and softball we will receive immediate feedback and insight in what to work on. The athlete in me already has my sights set on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Wouldn't it be amazing if we were to win an Olympic medal as the Kingdom of the Netherlands? It's my job to figure out how to build an infrastructure that will help us reach those goals and ambitions. On our way there I will be supported by our General Manager and the National Olympic Committee."
In van den Hurk's new role as Head of Baseball Operations, Team Kingdom of the Netherlands will play USA's Collegiate National Team, Cuba and Italy among others during the Honkbalweek Haarlem. 2023's international calendar is highlighted by the World Baseball Classic, the tournament van den Hurk represented his country in twice as he started the semifinal in 2017.
The federation's General Manager Stefaan Eskes is proud to have been able to hire a former Major Leaguer with the stature of van den Hurk: "I am very happy to welcome Rick at the federation and look forward to working with him. Rick is a true professional and brings international experience, network and top sport mentality to the table, that will contribute enormously to reaching the goals and ambitions we have for baseball and softball throughout the Kingdom."
Van den Hurk signed a two and a half year contract with the Royal Dutch Federation and will be in charge of baseball operations through 2024.
Photo: Mark Herbold (l), voorzitter van de KNBSB, verwelkomt Rick van den Hurk als de nieuwe technisch directeur. (Credit: KNBSB)