Johnny Balentina

Randolph Benito ("Johnny") Balentina (born August 8, 1971 in Willemstad, Curaçao) is a Dutch baseball player, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for the Netherlands, starting in 1996 (Atlanta, Georgia). Twice he finished in sixth place (1996 and 2004), once in fifth place (2000).

Balentina has been a member of numerous Dutch national teams from 1992 through the present. He has also played for Neptunus from 1992 through 1999 and in 2006. He has played three times in the Olympics, once in the World Baseball Classic and four times in the Baseball World Cup. Only Marcel Joost and Dirk van 't Klooster have played more games with a Dutch national team. He was the first native of the Netherlands Antilles to play 100 games for the Netherlands national club (and the 7th overall player to reach that level). Additionally, he was among the all-time leaders in appearances in Haarlem Baseball Week. Like Roger Bresnahan, Koichi Sekikawa and Doggie Miller, he is the rare baseball player to regularly appear both in center field and at catcher during his career.

Balentina played on the European champion in 1993, in the Baseball World Cup in 1994 and on the European champion in 1995. He played for The Netherlands in the 1996 Olympics, hitting a fine 7 for 18 with a triple but only one run and one RBI. In 1998, he played in the Baseball World Cup. He set a Neptunus club record with 7 triples, which still stood as of 2006. The next year, he was on the European champs. In the regular season in Hoofdklasse, Balentina tied for second with 17 doubles for Neptunus.

In 2000, Balentina hit .390, third in the league. The ADO player had 60 hits (second-most) and was 9th in slugging (.461). He also participated in the 2000 Olympics. During 2001, he was involved in the Baseball World Cup and again was on the European champs. He was not on the Dutch national team in 2002-2003 after 10 consecutive years with them.

In 2003, Balentina was on the Tornados in Hoofdklasse and hit .331 (sixth in the league) with 53 hits (5th) and 17 steals (4th) in 21 tries. Balentina returned to the Dutch national team in time for the 2004 Olympics. He hit .353 for the Dutch team in the 2004 Haarlem Baseball Week and won the "Jacques Reuvers Award". In the regular Hoofdklasse campaign, he batted .321 (10th in the league) for Kinheim with 27 runs (tied for 7th), 45 hits (tied for 6th), 10 doubles (tied for third) and 24 RBI (8th).

At age 34, the veteran slipped to .277 for Kinheim. He tied for 6th in the league with 44 hits, tied for the lead with 3 triples, was 8th with 23 RBI and 5th in stolen bases (10 in 14 attempts). He was 3 for 8 in the 2005 Baseball World Cup, when the Netherlands made their first semifinal ever.

In the 2006 World Baseball Classic, Balentina barely played. He backed up Sidney de Jong at catcher and Andruw Jones, Dirk van 't Klooster and Yurendell DeCaster in the outfield. He went 0 for 1 at the plate as a 9th-inning pinch-hitter for de Jong against Cuba's Yadel Marti. In the 2006 regular season, Balentina led off for Neptunus and hit .356/~.403/.441 while playing error-free ball both at catcher (27 games) and center field (13 games). He finished third in the league in average, led in runs (40) and hits (63), tied for 10th in doubles (9), tied for 4th in triples (4) and the 34/35-year-old veteran stole 23 bases in 28 tries to lead in steals by five.

Through 2006, Balentina's 39 triples were the most in Neptunus history as were his 146 steals.

References

* [http://www.sport.nl/overige/deelnemersfinder/ Dutch Olympic Committee]
* [http://www.Honkbalsite.com Honkbalsite.com]