Rob "Robbie" Cordemans (born October 31, 1974) is a Dutch former baseball player who pitched for the Netherlands national team in the Olympics and other international competitions.
He also pitched for many years in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the top Dutch baseball league, winning the league's best pitcher award multiple times.[1][2]
Playing career
College
Cordemans attended Indian River State College, where he was the 1997 Florida Junior College pitcher of the year, but he was not drafted out of college. He was a finesse pitcher, and he threw a mid- to upper-80s fastball and an upper-70s changeup. Cordemans attended spring training with the Montreal Expos in 1998, but chose to return to the Netherlands rather than play in the minors.[1]
International career
Cordemans was a fixture on the Netherlands national team in international competitions for two decades.
Olympics
Cordemans competed in four consecutive Olympic Games for the Netherlands.[3]
He began his Olympic career as a 21-year-old pitcher for the Netherlands at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Despite his lofty 6.94 ERA, Cordemans was the winning pitcher in both of the club's games during the preliminary round of the tournament, allowing 5 runs in 5+1⁄3 innings in a mercy rule win over Australia and 4 runs in 6+1⁄3 innings in a win over Italy.[4]
Cordemans participated in his third Olympic competition during the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. He started against Italy again, not earning the win in a Dutch victory, and was a reliever in a mercy rule loss to Australia. He had a 7.88 ERA and 5 strikeouts in 8 innings.[6]
His fourth appearance at the Olympic games was at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.[3] He pitched in relief in three games, allowing 5 runs in 8 innings.[7]
World Baseball Classic
Cordemans pitched once in the 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC), allowing one earned run in 2+2⁄3 innings.[8] He again pitched for the Dutch national team at the 2009 WBC. During the first round of the tournament held at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Cordemans entered two separate wins over the Dominican Republic in middle relief. He pitched 2+2⁄3 scoreless innings on March 7 and 2 scoreless innings on March 10.[9][10] He then pitched two more scoreless relief innings in a loss to Venezuela.[11]
Cordemans fared worse in the 2013 WBC, going 1–1 with an 8.53 ERA in two starts.[12] He pitched in his final WBC in 2017, allowing three runs and lasting only one inning in a losing start against Israel.[13] Cordemans said he was happy to make the Dutch team for a fourth WBC.[14]
Cordemans won his first Honkbal Hoofdklasse Pitcher of the Year award in 1999 while playing for Kinheim. His 14–2 win–loss record and 2.20 ERA led the league.
Although Cordemans moved to perennial powerhouse Neptunus for the 2000 season, he was not able to replicate his success from 1999 and his record declined to 8–4. However, his 94 strikeouts placed him fourth in the league, and an 11-strikeout complete game win over the Italians helped Neptunus to a European Cup title.
In the 2002 season, Cordemans went 10–2 with a 0.47 ERA and earned his second Pitcher of the Year award.
He pitched in the Hoofdklasse through 2021, spending much of his later career with Amsterdam Pirates. He was the first pitcher in the league with 200 wins, 2,000 strikeouts, and 2,000 innings pitched.[21][22]
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