Stijn van der Meer

From BR Bullpen

Stijn van der Meer

  • Bats Left, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 3", Weight 170 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Stijn van der Meer has played in the minors. His brother Bob van der Meer has played in the Dutch Hoofdklasse.

Van der Meer hit .200/.259/.280 for the Netherlands in the 2010 World Junior Championship but had five runs and six RBI in sven games; he led the team in RBI despite a much lower slugging percentage than players like Danny Arribas and Rashid Gerard. He participated in the 2011 MLB European Academy. He then starred in the 2011 European Junior Championship, batting .400/.444/.440 with five RBI in six games to take home MVP honors. He won the Ron Fraser Award as the best youth player in the Netherlands.

Making his Hoofdklasse debut in 2012, he hit .330/.385/.375 with 30 runs in 42 games for UVV with a team-high 53 hits, fielding .949. He was second in the league in hits, one shy of Phil Ortez (and ahead of several former minor leaguers), tied for third in triples (3) and tied Benjamin Dille for 7th with 110 assists. He made the starting lineup for the South in the Hoofdklasse All-Star Game. He also played for the Dutch national team in the 2012 Haarlem Baseball Week, going 7 for 20 with two RBI and no runs. only Mike Duursma had a better average opn a team with five former US minor leaguers and other players with significant international experience.

The Rosmalen native went to the US to play college baseball, missing most of the 2013 Hoofdklasse season (he hit .347/.352/.469 in 14 games back home). For Eastern Oklahoma State, he hit .330/.381/.421. He hit .286 and slugged .381 in the 2013 World Port Tournament, tying Danny Rombley for 6th in slugging. He was named World Port Tournament Best Rookie. The next year in college, he hit .385/.455/.507. Moving to DOOR Neptunus for the Hoofdklasse season, he produced at a .343/.430/.398 clip and scored 32 runs in 27 games. Despite missing a third on the season due to his college stint, he still finished 5th in the 2014 Hoofdklasse in average (between Gilmer Lampe and Christian Diaz), tied Kenny Berkenbosch for 9th in OBP and missed the top 10 in runs by two. He hit .350/.435/.550 with six runs and five RBI in the 2014 European Cup, leading all players with four doubles, tying Gyenuar Lopez for 5th in runs, tying for fifth in total bases and tying for sixth in RBI. He did not play in the 2014 Holland Series (which Neptunus won). He also hit .174/.240/.174 for the Netherlands in the 2014 Haarlem Baseball Week, though he led the team with four runs and his average was .001 better than the team average in a low-offense run.

Van der Meer transferred to Lamar University for 2014-2015 and his batting line for the year was .351/.401/.441. He tied for the Southland Conference lead with 78 hits and was 5th with 40 runs. He made second-team All-Conference at shortstop. He hit .241/.267/.310 in the 2015 World Port Tournament; he and Kevin Moesquit turned seven double plays to lead the event. He batted .500/.464/.654 in the Rotterdam round of the 2015 European Cup with 7 runs and 7 RBI in six games; he tied Luke Sommer for third in the pool in average, was 4th in slugging, tied Giuseppe Mazzanti for second in runs, led in hits (13, one ahead of Dwayne Kemp), tied Gianison Boekhoudt for second in RBI (one behind Rien Vernooij), led in doubles again (4) and tied Kemp for the most total bases. He was named MVP of the Rotterdam round. In the finals, he was 3 for 11 with a run and two RBI as Neptunus beat Fortitudo Bologna for the first European Cup title by a Dutch team in eight years. In the finale, his two-run single off Riccardo De Santis in the first scored Dille and Raily Legito with the game's first runs; he later bunted his way aboard in the 4th and scored on a single by Kemp. He won MVP of the final round as well.

He hit .376/.471/.441 with 44 runs in 54 games as a college senior. He was third in the Southland Conference with 80 hits and led in OBP. He set a school record by reaching in 32 straight games. He then returned to Neptunus for the 2016 European Champions Cup and was 4 for 16 with two walks, three runs, two RBI and two errors. The Houston Astros took him in the 34th round of the 2016 amateur draft. He was the first player from the Netherlands to be drafted since Mike Bolsenbroek in 2008 (several had signed as amateur free agents). He hit .360/.385/.360 with 7 runs in 7 games for the Dutch as they won the 2016 Haarlem Baseball Week. He tied Nick Urbanus and Yurendell de Caster for second in the event in runs, one behind former major leaguer Trent Oeltjen (de Caster also having played in MLB). He also tied Raywendley van Gurp for 4th with 9 hits.

Signing with Houston, he made his minor league debut after Haarlem Baseball Week ended (he had also hit .339 with 15 runs in 16 games for Neptunus in the 2016 Hoofdklasse after the US college season ended). He was assigned to the GCL Astros, where he played alongside 3-time Cuban MVP Yulieski Gurriel. Van der Meer started at SS against the GCL Marlins in his debut, hitting 9th. He singled off Alberto Guerrero in his first at-bat but Gurriel flew out after him. He was retired the other two times up in his debut in the US pro ranks. He got hits in his other three at-bats for the GCL Astros, earning a quick promotion to the Greeneville Astros. He hit .301/.386/.370 in 19 games there for a strong pro debut on the contact and OBP ends.

He was back with the Kingdom of the Netherlands team for the 2016 European Championship, his first major event for his homeland. Starting at short, he hit .357/.455/.357 with 7 runs and 5 RBI in 9 games as the team won the title. He had 36 chances error-free (12 PO, 24 A). In the Gold Medal game, he was 1 for 3 with a walk in a 3-2 win over Spain. His best performance was against #3 Italy. In the 10th inning, down 5-4 with two outs, he singled off Nick Pugliese to score Randolph Oduber with the tying run, then stole second and scored on a hit by Chris Garia to give the Netherlands their spot in the finals. He tied for 7th in the event in runs and was named the European Championship MVP, the fourth event he had been MVP of in his young career.

In the 2017 World Baseball Classic, he was one of nine Dutch infielders, but six of them were current or former major leaguers, including regulars like Didi Gregorius, Xander Bogaerts and Andrelton Simmons, limiting his opportunities. As the Netherlands made it to the semifinals, he got into their last two games. In a 14-1 win over Cuba, he replaced Simmons at short in the bottom of the 5th of the mercy rule win. He got to bat once, flying out in the 7th against Leandro Martínez. In the semifinal game against Puerto Rico, he batted for Shawn Zarraga with two on and no outs in the 11th. Facing Edwin Diaz, he bunted the runners over, but they failed to score then Puerto Rico won it in the bottom of the inning to send the Netherlands out.

He was only 3 for 19 with a double and a walk for the 2017 Buies Creek Astros and was released with a .296 average in two partial minor league seasons. He returned to Neptunus. He was 4 for 5 with 4 runs in an opening win over Bologna in the 2017 European Champions Cup and hit .375/.475/.438 with 6 runs in 4 games in the round-robin phase, tying him for third in runs, two behind leader Francesco Fuzzi. In the finale, also against Bologna, he was 1 for 4 with a hit-by-pitch and two runs from the leadoff slot in a 7-3 win. He got the scoring started in the first when he singled off former major leaguer Rudy Owens and came home later on an Alessandro Vaglio error. He batted .292/.370/.292 with 6 runs in 6 games for the Netherlands in the 2017 World Port Tournament, tying Garia for 3rd in runs.

For the 2017 Hoofdklasse campaign, he produced at a .369/.477/.492 clip with 43 runs in 31 games, while fielding .951. He finished 4th in average (between Gilmer Lampe and Remco Draijer), 4th in OBP, led in runs (6 ahead of Draijer), 8th in hits (45), tied Joey Eeman for 2nd in triples (4, one behind Linoy Croes), tied Lampe for 3rd in walks (28), tied for 2nd with 4 sacrifice flies and 3rd with 101 assists (4 behind Roelie Henrique Jr. and Zerzinho Croes). In the finale of the 2017 Holland Series, his 9th-inning single off Kyle Ward scored Darryl Collins with the tying run as Neptunus won the title. He hit only .200/.200/.250 in the Series, but with 3 runs and 4 RBI in 5 games. He handled 24 chances error-free. He tied for second in the Series in RBI, 3 behind Boekhoudt.

Neptunus also won the 2018 European Champions Cup, though van der Meer struggled at the plate (.150/.190/.150). He did play flawless defense and scored four runs in five games. His three double-play grounders tied for the event lead, though he also tied Zerzinho Croes for the most assists. His struggles in recent tournaments continued in the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week, when he hit .208/.321/.208, though he did have two runs and two RBI in a win over Cuba. He fielded .897, tying for third in the event in errors (3). In the 2018 Super6, the Netherlands won, but van der Meer was stuck riding the pine as Dudley Leonora played short. Backing up de Caster at third base, he got into two games. Pinch-hitting for de Caster late in a mercy rule win over Germany, he drew a walk from Andre Hughes. Against Italy, he again replaced de Caster at third. He was retired in his lone at-bat by Alessandro Maestri, then Boekhoudt pinch-hit for him later; he had one put-out and two assists in the field.

Considering all his struggles in the 2018 tournaments, he still had a very good regular season. He hit .340/.454/.451 with 45 runs in 41 games, fielding .962. He finished 5th in the 2018 Hoofdklasse in average, 2nd in OBP (.015 behind Tijmen Takke), 1st in runs (one ahead of double-play partner Dille), tied Leonora for 4th in hits (52), 2nd in walks (32, 5 behind Jelle Blauw) and 3rd in assists (120). He then starred in the 2018 Holland Series, hitting .455/.500/.500 with 6 runs in 6 games to rebound from his 2017 Series. He had 9 putouts, 17 assists and no errors. He scored the first run of the Series, singling off Rob Cordemans in the first inning of the opener and coming home on a Gerard error. He had 3 runs in the game 4 win that tied the Series with the Amsterdam Pirates. He had 3 hits in game 5 as Neptunus took the Series lead, and made a nice stop to rob Gerard of a potential two-run single late. He then scored the final run in game 6 as Neptunus locked up the title. He led the Series in average (.122 ahead of Kemp and Shaldimar Daantji), slugging (.083 ahead of Kemp), OBP (.093 ahead of Draijer), runs (by 2), hits (10, 2 ahead of Dille), total bases (11, one ahead of Kemp) and assists (tied with Urbanus and Victor Draijer). He won Series MVP.


Sources[edit]

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