Jurjan Koenen

Jurjan Koenen

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born November 18, 1970 in Bussum Netherlands

Biographical Information

Jurjan Koenen held the Hoofdklasse Honkbal record for games played with one team, with 691 games for HCAW; Dè Flanegin surpassed him in 2013. He played with the team from 1988-2008, with 329 runs, 370 RBI, 685 hits, 40 homers and a .274 average. He was known for his superb defensive play at third base, though he had caught at times for the first half of his career. He played 32 games for the Dutch national team as well, from 1991 through 2003. He helped the Dutch win Gold in the 1993 European Championship, batting .324/.366/.459 with 8 RBI in nine games while fielding .919 at the hot corner. He tied Johnny Balentina, Arnaud Fau and Rickard Reimer for 8th in the event with 17 total bases and his 12 hits tied for 7th with Rudi Brouwers, Balentina, Ruggero Bagialemani and David Meurant.

Koenen hit .286/~.375/.786 in the 1997 World Port Tournament and scored 7 runs in the 1997 European Championship. In the 1998 Baseball World Cup, he batted .211/.286/.211 and was error-free for the Dutch team as a part-time third baseman. He was MVP of the 2000 European Cupwinners Cup and hit a three-run homer off Grosseto's Otis Green in the finale. He hit .214/.313/.214 and still was the primary Dutch 3B in the 2001 Baseball World Cup, though backup Raily Legito outhit him. In the 2001 World Port Tournament, Koenen batted .313/~.353/.313 with 10 strikeouts in 32 AB. In the 2001 European Championship, Koenen hit .414/.514/.586 with 7 runs and 6 RBI in 8 games and made the All-Star team at third ahead of Italy's David Sheldon, who hit .500. He was among the tournament leaders in average (5th, between Ken Pot and Jairo Ramos Gizzi), hits (tied for 1st with 6 others at 11) and total bases (16, tied for 7th with Dan Vardijan and Alexander Nizov).

In 2003, he finished 8th with Hoofdklasse with a .327 average, was 9th in hits (50) and third in doubles (10). The next year, he was tied for 6th with 9 doubles. He batted .268/~.353/.312 and fielded .937 in 2005, his last year as a regular player. He went 4 for 16 with 4 walks in 2006.

In 2007, Koenen retired and became HCAW's third base coach. The team retired his number 12, the 4th number in team history to be retired. He came out of retirement later in the season, going 1 for 3 with a walk. Koenen studied Business administration and works as a cluster manager for the Cap Gemini company as of 2008.

Koenen was promoted to head coach of HCAW for 2009 but decided not to return in 2010 to spend more time with his family. He was replaced by Bill Froberg.

Sources: Honkbalsite, 2005-2006 Dutch stats, Marco Stoovelaar's Dutch baseball website, IBAF website, Mister Baseball