Jaïr van Borkulo

Jaïr Marron van Borkulo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 213 lb.

• Born July 10, 2002

Biographical Information

Jaïr van Borkulo has played in the Hoofdklasse and for the Dutch national team.

He made his Hoofdklasse debut with the Amsterdam Pirates in 2020; the teenager hit .333/.444/.361. In 2021, he backed up Dashenko Ricardo at catcher and Roelie Henrique Jr. in left and slipped to .200/.333/.236. He was 0 for 4 with a walk in the 2021 European Champions Cup. He did not appear in the 2021 Holland Series, in which Amsterdam beat Neptunus.

Transferring to HCAW in 2022, he backed up Quintin de Cuba at catcher and Kevin Dirksen in left and saw regular usage at DH. He hit .274/.402/.326 with 22 runs in 32 games. His team again topped Neptunus in the Holland Series; he did not see action in the 2022 Holland Series, though this time it was presumably due to injury rather than being a bench player. In the 2023 European Champions Cup, he batted .400/.429/.600 with 8 RBI in 5 games, including a 3-run homer off the Arrows Ostrava's Marko Vykoukal. Only Cesare Astorri had more RBI in the Cup, while van Borkulo ranked 4th in hits and tied de Cuba for 5th in total bases. He added to his titles as his team won the event. He posted a .265/.388/.287 line in the 2023 Hoofdklasse, tying for 4th in HBP (9). While playing regularly, he still had no set spot, backing up Julian Goins at catcher and Victor Draijer in right. He also bounced around (C/1B/OF) in the 2023 U-23 European Championship, in which he hit .273/.579/.364 with 8 walks and 6 runs in 5 games. He tied for 4th in the tourney in runs, led in walks and tied for 4th in OBP as his team won it all.

Van Borkulo hit .305/.397/.452 with 37 runs and 34 walks in 47 contests in 2024, splitting catching with Goins and spending time in the outfield, at first base and DH as well. He was 9th in runs overall (in the regular season, he tied Jeandro Tromp for the lead), tied Lukas Bekker and Timothy Rojas for 3rd in walks and tied for 5th in times plunked (10). Neptunus beat HCAW in the 2024 Holland Series; he was only 2-for-15 with two walks and a run in his first Holland Series in which he saw action. In the 2024 Haarlem Baseball Week, he was 3-for-11 with a walk, hit-by-pitch and a run. He then was with the Dutch team for the 2024 Premier 12, getting into one game. He replaced Dwayne Kemp late in a 20-8 rout of Puerto Rico. His lone plate appearance, he was retired by Andrés Santiago.