Manny Ramirez goes independent in Japan

There are players who simply don’t want to quit on the game. Rickey Henderson was one of them and also Julio Franco could not say goodbye to the game. Another one in this little list of players who wants to keep playing is Manny Ramirez. The 12-time MLB All Star has signed a contract with the Kochi Fighting Dogs of the Shikoku Island-Plus league, an independent league in Japan.

Despite Manny being Manny and his PED-tainted career, Ramirez cannot be denied some love of the game. The 44-year old Ramirez claims to be concerned about Japan’s declining baseball population.Also in Japan, baseball seems to lose ground to soccer, a sport with a growing popularity.

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Jurickson Profar joins Kingdom of the Netherlands in friendly matches vs Samurai Japan

Today the Dutch baseball federation came with a press release in which the roster of team Kingdom of the Netherlands was revealed. This team will face team Samurai Japan in a set of friendly matches. Biggest surprise is name of Jurickson Profar, the infielder from Curacao who is currently used as utility man by the Texas Rangers. In 2016, Profar has played all infield positions  and also left field. At bat Profar was not quite impressive with an average of .239.
After a long absence due to a shoulder inury, Profar returned to the MLB in 2016. During the course of 2015 Profar returned to baseball in a minor league rehab. He played for A Full Season Hickory and for AA Frisco for which he hit a combined .256.

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