News

By Kevin McCall

For Westhampton lefthander Jim Ploeger, the art of pitching comes down to an intense competition between two opponents.   

“As a pitcher you get into a one-on-one duel with each batter while you’re on the mound,” Ploeger said. “No matter who’s against me, I always try to win that battle.”

The thrill Ploeger gets from the matchup between himself and each batter has taken him on a journey from his Dutch roots to three regions of the United States, including to the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and now the east end of Long Island this summer.

Ploeger first fell in love with baseball as an 8-year-old boy in Almere, Netherlands, a planned city constructed opposite Amsterdam on the IJmeer River in the years following World War II.

“I grew up watching and playing soccer like any other European kid, but then in elementary school I played baseball in gym class and liked it so much that I stuck with it,” Ploeger said.

Playing as a goalkeeper on youth soccer teams at his elementary school gave Ploeger the hand-eye coordination necessary to excel in baseball. When he was 13, he gave up soccer entirely to focus on playing first base and outfield for his hometown club baseball team Almere’90. Three years later, he was one of the squad’s starting pitchers.

Despite developing a nasty cutter and playing for the Dutch team in the 2008 World Junior Championships and Holland’s World Port Tournament in 2009, Ploeger said he felt like he needed to play a longer regular season schedule in America if he wanted to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing in the big leagues.      

Ploeger first earned an opportunity to play in the States when he was accepted to Laney College, a junior college in Oakland, Calif. In his first year of school, he had to adjust to cultural differences between America and the Netherlands such as the language barrier aside from the new echelon of competition on the West Coast.

“My English was OK when I first came over but my vocabulary wasn’t that great and I needed time to adjust there,” he said. “Everything seemed a lot more over the top when I first got to America, whereas at home was a lot more traditional.”

After two seasons at junior college, Ploeger relocated to UAPB, which recruited him for his final two seasons of college eligibility. Ploeger went 5-4 in 13 appearances for the Golden Lions last season, striking out 65 batters in 72.1 innings. He carried over his imposing mound presence to the Aviators, becoming a major asset in the bullpen and being selected to throw for the South in the inaugural Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League All-Star Game on July 13.

Ploeger said he is inspired by the career paths of Dutch players like Washington Nationals outfielder Roger Bernadina and hopes to follow in the footsteps of former Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens.

Whether he is on the West Coast, in the Midwest or the Hamptons, Ploeger is grateful for the opportunity to compete in America.

“Testing my skills against competition from everywhere has been a great challenge,” he said. “My teammates in the Hamptons have really helped me get settled in and accepted me really fast. I know now that I’ve really had to rise above myself to get better as a baseball player.”