Victor Draijer

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 180 lb.

• School Ouachita Baptist University

• Born July 26, 1993 in Heemstede, Noord-Holland Netherlands

BR register page

Biographical Information

Victor Draijer has been Hoofdklasse MVP. His brother Remco Draijer and cousin Max Draijer have also played in the league.

Draijer debuted for Kinheim in the 2015 Hoofdklasse, hitting .284/.357/.378 with 7 steals in 7 tries and 15 runs in 23 games. Going to college in the US, he batted .281/.318/.377 for Ouachita Baptist. He was at .267/.309/.367 in the 2016 Hoofdklasse. He slumped to .243/.367/.311 for Ouachita Baptist in 2017-2018.

Moving to the L&D Amsterdam Pirates, he was 2 for 11 with a tourney-high 7 Ks in the 2018 European Champions Cup. He produced at a .292/.395/.385 clip in the 2018 Hoofdklasse and his four sacrifice flies were 2nd, one behind Dwayne Kemp. In the 2018 Holland Series, he split second base with Niels van Weert and did well, going 5 for 14 with two doubles and two runs, fielding .952. He tied his brother and Kemp for the Series lead in doubles and tied Kenny Berkenbosch, Max Clarijs and Linoy Croes for 9th in hits.

He was 3 for 8 in the 2019 European Champions Cup, with a 3-RBI game against Parmaclima. He put up a batting line of .255/.373/.318 in the 2019 Hoofdklasse, scoring 26 runs in 35 games. Playing outfield, he fielded .981. He only had one bench appearance when Amsterdam won the 2019 Holland Series, though, as Kalian Sams rejoined the team after spending the summer in the US indy leagues.

With Sams on board for the full 2020 Hoofdklasse season (such as it was with the COVID-19 pandemic cutting the season in half), Victor moved to the Hoofddorp Pioniers. In the shortened campaign, he put up some impressive numbers: .500/.571/.726, 14 2B, 19 R, 24 RBI in 21 G, though he fielded .909. He easily won the batting title (.088 ahead of Denzel Richardson) and also led in OBP (.026 ahead of Gianison Boekhoudt), hits (42, 6 ahead of Kemp), doubles (6 ahead of Richardson and Jason Halman) and total bases (61, 3 ahead of Richardson). He was 2nd in slugging (.087 behind Sams), tied Jochem Koedijk and Sharlon Schoop for 8th in runs and 3rd in RBI (behind Sams and Richardson). For his fine performance, he won MVP (beating out fellow finalists Kemp, Sams and Arthur Bonevacia).

He remained hot in 2021 at .328/.427/.493. He was 7th in hits (44, between Gilmar Lampe and Roger Bernardina) and tied John Polonius for second in doubles (17, one shy of Richardson). He played for Nettuno in the 2022 Serie A1 (hitting .356/.434/.424 with 19 RBI in 19 games) but struggled for HCAW (.217/.296/.283 in 17 games) in the 2022 Hoofdklasse. He drove in HCAW's first run of the 2022 Holland Series with a sacrifice fly off Juan Carlos Sulbaran to score Julian Goins. His 7th-inning homer off Kevin Kelly was the only run in Game 3 as HCAW went on to win its first title in 24 years.

HCAW thus qualified for the 2023 European Champions Cup and they won their first Cup, Draijer again playing a big role. He went 5-for-8 with four walks, a steal, a double, a homer, six runs and two RBI in four games; he had three hits against defending champion Parma in the finale, including a solo shot off Pablo Guillen. He tied for third in the event in runs (behind Stefano De Simoni and Manuel Joseph) and would have led in average (and slugging and OBP) had he qualified. He was named the event's MVP.