Kenny Berkenbosch

Kenneth Winston Berkenbosch

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 200 lb.

• Born March 17, 1985 in Amsterdam The Netherlands

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Kenny Berkenbosch was signed at age 17 by the Florida Marlins and played in their system for several years. He then returned to the Netherlands, where he won batting and doubles titles in the Hoofdklasse.

In 2002, he hit .333/.455/.444 in four games for the GCL Marlins. The next season, Kenny batted .244/.326/.291 in 43 games for the same team, playing regularly in the outfield. In his third season with the GCL Marlins, Berkenbosch was moved to the mound and went 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA, but a 4.09 RA in seven relief stints. In 2005, he moved up to the Jamestown Jammers and won one game and saved one in 17 outings. He had a 4.81 ERA, his primary problem being a tendency to give up home runs (7 in 33 2/3 IP).

In 2006, he was let go by Florida and signed with HCAW. He hit .292/~.386/.444 for the club as a 1B/OF/DH and went 2-3 with a 4.58 ERA on the mound. He was on the Netherlands roster for the 2006 World Baseball Classic but did not play in that event. He pitched one scoreless inning in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup.

Berkenbosch was 6-4 with a save and a 2.11 ERA in 2007 for the Amsterdam Pirates while batting .254/.324/.322. He hit .385/.385/.769 in the playoffs and was 0-1 with a 3.29 ERA. He was 8th in the 2007 Hoofdklasse in ERA, tied for 7th in wins and was 10th with 55 strikeouts.

He was 1-0 in the 2007 European Championship, allowing no runs and four baserunners in 7 innings while striking out 8 to help the Dutch team qualify for the 2008 Olympics. In the 2007 World Port Tournament, Berkenbosch had a 10.13 ERA, allowing three hits, three walks, one hit batsman and one wild pitch in 2 2/3 IP.

Berkenbosch was the first pitcher to face the Thai national team in a Baseball World Cup. He held them to two hits in six innings in Thailand's first game of the 2007 Baseball World Cup. He threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings for the relief win over the Venezuelan national team later in the Cup. Overall, he allowed no runs and 3 hits in 10 1/3 innings in the event, leading the 4th-place Dutch team in ERA and wins.

Berkenbosch hit .309/.367/.509 in the 2008 Hoofdklasse and went 10-2 with a 2.24 ERA. He tied Leon Boyd for 2nd in wins, one behind Patrick Beljaards, was 9th in innings (76 1/3), 10th in strikeouts (49), tied for third in complete games (3), tied for the shutout lead (1) and was 9th in ERA, between Mihai Burlea and Diegomar Markwell. He won his only playoff game, then won his lone start in the 2008 Holland Series; he was 4 for 9 with a double, run and RBI in the Series as well as Amsterdam upset Corendon Kinheim. He started the winning rally in game one with a single off Michiel van Kampen and would come around to score, then beat Patrick Beljaards in game two.

Berkenbosch was on the provisional Dutch roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic but did not make the final cut. In the Nettuno phase of the 2009 European Cup, Kenny hit .308/.438/.385 and tossed 3 innings of one-run ball. In the Cup's Final Four, he was 1 for 6 with a double and surrendered 2 runs in 2 innings, including allowing the game-losing homer to Danny Rombley in the third/fourth place contest. For the 2009 Hoofdklasse, he hit .402/.458/.636 while rotating between the three outfield slots and first base. He pitched for the last time, going 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA. He won the batting title (.006 over Rombley) and also led in slugging (.007 over Bryan Engelhardt) and OPS (28 points ahead of Rombley). He tied Fausto Álvarez for 4th in home runs (4), tied for 5th in doubles (11), was 5th in OBP and was 10th in total bases (68).

In 2010, he batted .316/.389/.421 and tied for 3rd with 11 doubles. Amsterdam made the 2010 Holland Series but Amsterdam fell to DOOR Neptunus in six games. He only played 21 games for the 2011 Pirates, hitting .314/.364/.343. He hit .375/.375/.583 with 7 RBI in 6 games in the 2011 European Cup. In the 3rd/4th place game, he had 3 hits, including a dinger against Luca Turrini, but Amsterdam lost to Italy's Unipol Bologna, 10-9. Amsterdam won the 2011 Holland Series; Berkenbosch homered off Mika de Lincel in game 3.

Berkenbosch batted .299/.359/.422 with 34 runs in 40 games in the 2012 Hoofdklasse, finishing 7th in runs and tied for 4th with four home runs. In the 2012 European Cup, he batted .292 with 4 runs and 2 RBI. His six walks in the San Marino qualifier tied Mattia Reginato for the lead. Amsterdam finished third, their best finish since the 1991 European Cup (they had not placed higher than third to that point).

In the 2013 Hoofdklasse campaign, he hit .359/.466/.461. He ranked 5th in average (between Phil Ortez and Vince Rooi), 10th in slugging (between Percy Isenia and Rombley), tied Rooi for second in OBP (.028 behnd Remco Draijer), 10th in runs (34), tied for 8th with 25 walks and tied for 3rd with 5 sacrifice flies. He hit .467/.556/.533 with four runs in five games in the 2013 European Cup, finishing 5th in average and OBP, 7th in slugging and tied for 3rd with 7 hits.

Kenny's batting line was .313/.430/.524 in 2014, tying Stijn van der Meer for 9th in OBP, finishing 6th in slugging (between Engelhardt and Mark-Jan Moorman), tied for 10th in hits (45), was 4th in RBI (39), tying Christian Diaz for 6th with 10 doubles, tied Gianison Boekhoudt for second with 7 homers (2 behind Engelhardt), tying Boekhoudt for 3rd with 77 total bases and tied Joris van Ballegooy for 7th with 29 walks. He hit .300/.344/.400 in the 2014 Holland Series; he had 3 hits apiece in wins in games 1 and 2 but Neptunus rallied to beat Amsterdam in 7 games.

Berkenbosch hit .331/.423/.470 with 33 runs and 16 doubles for Amsterdam in the 2015 Hoofdklasse. He made the leaderboards in average (8th, between Rien Vernooij and Raily Legito), OBP (7th, between Mike Duursma and Boekhoudt), slugging (9th, between Draijer and Vernooij), runs (tied for 5th with Draijer), hits (50, tied for 7th), RBI (10th), doubles (1st, one more than Diaz) and total bases (71, 6th, between Daniel Fernandes and Boekhoudt). He hit .250/.333/.438 with 5 RBI in five games in the 2015 European Cup, tying for 8th in RBI.

He was 3 for 11 with 3 doubles, a run, a RBI and five walks in the 2016 European Champions Cup and had a couple big plays. In a pitching duel with the Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg, he scored the only run of the game. Facing Jan Tomek in the bottom of the 7th, he hit into a Matt Vance error and later came around on a wild pitch. His RBI also came at a timely point. In the finale against host ASD Rimini, he doubled off Carlos Teran in the top of the 10th to score Linoy Croes to put Amsterdam up 5-3; they survived to win 5-4. Berkenbosch won MVP of the Cup; while other players had better raw stats, he had come up big in two key moments. It was the first European Cup the Amsterdam Pirates had ever won. They were the 5th Dutch team to win, as Haarlem Nicols, Neptunus and Kinheim had all won multiple titles and ADO had won once.

His brother Joey Berkenbosch played in the Hoofdklasse in 2004, 2005 and 2010 and later was in the World Championship Mixed Martial Arts for Amateurs in 2015.

Sources: 2003-2006 Baseball Almanacs, Honkbalsite.com, Dutch baseball stats, Mister Baseball, Defunct IBAF site, European Baseball Federation