| Tom de Blok | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neptunus – No. 37 | |||||||||||||||
| Pitcher | |||||||||||||||
| Born:8 May 1996 Amstelveen, Netherlands | |||||||||||||||
Bats: Right Throws: Right | |||||||||||||||
Medals
| |||||||||||||||
Tom Robin de Blok (born 8 May 1996) is a Dutch professional baseball pitcher for the Neptunus of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse. He played for Team Netherlands in the 2019 European Baseball Championship, and at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019.
On 26 August 2013, de Blok signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners after participating in the MLB European Academy in Germany. [1] [2] However, on 17 April 2014, de Blok formally retired from professional baseball, saying he was not happy with his experience in America. [1] [3]
Back in the Netherlands, de Blok joined Mr. Cocker HCAW in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse for the 2014 season. As a reliever, he had an 0–3 record with 2 saves and a 3.20 ERA in 17 games. [4]
In 2015, de Blok joined the Amsterdam Pirates, where he posted a 4–0 record with 3 saves and a 1.54 ERA in 20 games. He had his best season in the Netherlands in 2016, going 5–0 with 5 saves and a 0.88 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 41 innings. [4] After the season, de Blok had a two-day tryout with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). However, de Blok decided to return to the Pirates. [5]
After his performance in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, de Blok signed a four-year minor league deal with the Detroit Tigers organization on 10 April 2017. [6] [2] He made his affiliated debut with the Single-A West Michigan Whitecaps, pitching once for the Low-A Connecticut Tigers in June. Working as both a starter and reliever, he had a combined 4–2 record and 2.74 ERA in 82 innings. [7] He spent the first two months of 2018 with the High-A Lakeland Flying Tigers before being demoted back to West Michigan. He had a combined 5–6 record and 4.71 ERA in 19 starts. de Blok spent the all of the 2019 season with Lakeland, recording a 2–13 record and 4.04 ERA in 21 games. [4] de Blok did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. [8] On 2 November 2020, he elected free agency. [9]
de Blok returned to the Amsterdam Pirates following his stint with the Tigers, logging a 2.00 ERA in 5 games with the team in 2020. In 2021, de Blok posted a 3–2 record and 1.64 ERA in 6 games with the team. [4] On 14 May 2021, de Blok threw the fourth perfect game in the history of the Dutch Major Leagues, defeating Kinheim 12–0 and striking out seven batters. [10]
On 27 June 2021, de Blok signed with the Pericos de Puebla of the Mexican League. He made just one start before he was released on 8 July. [7] He suffered an arm injury after his one game with Puebla. [11] He did not pitch in 2022 due to his injury. [12]
On 1 October 2022, de Blok signed with Hoofdklasse club Neptunus in Rotterdam. [12] In 2023, he resumed his effectiveness in the Dutch league, with a 7–0 record and 1.59 ERA in 14 starts. [4] He threw a two-hit shutout on April 25. [13] He equalled his performance in 2024, going 7–1 with a 1.33 ERA in 13 starts. [4] He won two games in the Holland Series [14] as Neptunus swept one of his former teams, HCAW. [15]
de Blok was a member of the Netherlands national baseball team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic [16] and the 2023 World Baseball Classic. [17] [18] His performance in the 2017 tournament led him to signing with the Detroit Tigers after the tournament. [2] [19]
He played for the Netherlands in other tournaments, including the 2016 European Baseball Championship, the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament, and the 2024 WBSC Premier12. [20]
de Blok has two sons. [21]
