Mike Groen

Mike Groen

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 198 lb.

• Born April 9, 1996 in Amstelveen, Noord-Holland Netherlands

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Biographical Information

Mike Groen has pitched in the Hoofdklasse and for the Dutch national team.

Groen debuted for the L&D Amsterdam Pirates in the 2014 Hoofdklasse, allowing one run in two-thirds of an inning but getting a win. He moved to DSS in 2015 and was 4-3 with a 2.13 ERA. He was 9th in the league in ERA (between Diegomar Markwell and Kyle Ward) and 10th in opponent average (.218, between Lars Huijer and Orlando Yntema). With DSS in 2016, he fell to 0-11, 6.82. On a 7-35 team, he had the best ERA of any regular, beating out future Twins signee Donny Breek. He led the league in numerous negative departments: losses (3 more than Breek), hits (100, 4 more than Elton Koeiman), runs (72, 17 more than Kevin van Veen) and earned runs (52, 8 more than Tim Halderman.

His woes continued in 2017 (1-5, 7.76), tying for 5th in losses while only three qualifiers had higher ERAs. He moved to the bullpen in 2018 and was much better (1-3, 5 Sv, 2.51; 42 K in 32 1/3 IP). He tied Berry van Driel and Jim Ploeger for 3rd in saves and tied for 5th in appearances (21). He was 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA in the 2018 U-23 Baseball World Cup, losing to Czechia.

Returning to Amsterdam in '19, he struck out the only batter he faced (Aldo Koutsoyanopulos) in the 2019 European Champions Cup. He retired all eight batters he faced in the 2019 U-23 European Championship and got the win against Croatia. In the 2019 Hoofdklasse, he was 2-1 with two saves and a 1.93 ERA. He tied Marvin Brown for 3rd in games pitched (23) and tied for 9th in saves. He cost Amsterdam Game 1 of the 2019 Holland Series after relieving Ploeger as his wild pitch scored Dudley Leonora. Down 3 games to 0, though, he came up huge with 4 1/3 shutout innings in Game 4 to get the win against Neptunus, beating former Dodgers farmhand Misja Harcksen. He then combined with Jhan Rifaele and Tom Stuifbergen in a Game 7 shutout to give Amsterdam the title. He had a 0.87 ERA in five Series appearances, finishing 2nd in ERA (behind Rifaele), allowing the lowest average (.147, .007 better than van Driel), 6th in IP (10 1/3, between starters Diegomar Markwell and Rob Cordemans), 4th in K (8), tied for first in wins and second in games pitched (one shy of Kevin Kelly. He had clearly played a big role in the Pirates' title.

In the 2020 Hoofdklasse, he was 1-0 with two saves; in 12 1/3 IP, he allowed only four hits and one run. He tied Robin Clara and Aaron de Groot for 6th in saves. He had pitched three shutout innings in the 2020 Holland Series against Neptunus before it was cut short due to COVID-19 safety restrictions; while Amsterdam led 2 games to 0, neither team was awarded the title.

Groen pitched one game for the Netherlands in the 2020 Final Olympic Qualifier (held in June 2021 due to COVID delays). He relieved Tom de Blok in the bottom of the 6th with two outs, one on and a surprising close 1-0 deficit against the Dominican national team (which would win the event). He walked Ramón Torres and gave up a two-run double to Roldani Baldwin to make it 3-0 before Gustavo Núñez grounded out. After Emilio Bonifacio reached on an error to open the 7th, he was replaced by former big leaguer Shairon Martis. His 27.00 ERA was the event's highest, tied with Harold Chirino of Venezuela.