DSS/Kinheim
Dutch professional baseball team (2020–2024)
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DSS/Kinheim was a baseball team in Haarlem, the Netherlands that competed in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse. The team was a combination of two Haarlem sports clubs, DSS and Kinheim, which merged in 2020 after DSS had defeated Kinheim in a promotion/relegation playoff. DSS, however, faced financial difficulties staying in the top Dutch baseball league.[1] Kinheim had won Dutch and European titles, but the club abruptly withdrew from the Hoofdklasse in 2016[2] and could not return to the top league via the promotion playoff.
| DSS/Kinheim | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Location | Haarlem, the Netherlands |
| Ballpark | Pim Mulier Stadium, 2,500 capacity |
| Founded | 2020 |
| 2024 | 15–33 (fourth place) |
| Lost in playoff round to Neptunus | |
| Former league | Honkbal Hoofdklasse |
| Manager | Etienne Meijer |
The team played at Pim Mulier Stadium. DSS/Kinheim also fielded a combined second team that competes in the second-highest Dutch baseball league, the Eerste Klaase.[3][4] Former Kinheim manager and Dutch national player Michael Crouwel was DSS/Kinheim's first manager.[5] He was replaced by Etienne Meijer after the 2022 season.[6]
The combined club played its first game on 23 July 20220, a 4–3 win over Hoofddorp Pioniers.[7][8] The 2020 season was delayed and shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9][10] The team scuffled in its first season, finishing in seventh place out of eight teams in the regular season. However, the team finished first in the "bottom four" pool.[11]
In the 2021 season, DSS/Kinheim finished in fifth place and again won the "bottom four" pool.[12] Outfielder Jason Jakobus tied for the league lead with four triples.[13] The next season was a repeat, with the team again placing fifth in the regular season and winning the now-expanded "bottom five" pool in 2022. The team lost all five of its wildcard and placing round playoff games.[14] Catcher Koen Halderman led the league with a .379 batting average and was in the top five in doubles, runs batted in, and on-base and slugging percentages.[15] He won the league's Best Hitter award.[16][17]
On 20 April 2023, three DSS/Kinheim pitchers combined for an eight-inning no-hitter in a 12–4 victory over RCH-Pinguins.[18] The team finished the 2023 regular season in sixth place, followed by a second place finish in the "bottom five" pool and a 1–2 record in the bottom wildcard playoff.[19] Catcher Sem Kuijper, who also played on the Netherlands' U23 baseball team, received the Guus van der Heijden Award as the best Dutch international player under the age of 23.[20] Kuijper supplanted Halderman, who hit just .136 in the follow-up to his award-winning season and retired after the 2023 season.[21][22]
In 2024, DSS/Kinheim advanced to the "top four" pool, finishing the first portion of the regular season in fourth place, three points clear of the lower pool.[23] The club's first season in the "top four" pool went poorly, with 3 wins and 23 losses and a negative 113 run differential.[24] In the wildcard playoff, the Haarlem team defeated the Oosterhout Twins, 2 games to 1, the combined franchise's first postseason series win. DSS/Kinheim had two extra-inning walk-off victories, with outfielder Colin Broers clinching the series with a single in the bottom of the 10th inning.[25][26] DSS/Kinheim was swept in two games in the final four Playoff Round by Neptunus and failed to advance to the Holland Series.[27] Ibrahin Redan, who pitched in the Cincinnati Reds minor league system a decade prior,[28] led the team with a .322 average and .839 on-base plus slugging for the year.[29] However, he and brother Irving Redan[30] both ranked in the top three in the league in strikeouts.[31]
In August 2024, DSS and Kinheim announced a change to their operating agreement beginning in 2025. Kinheim would field a team in the Hoofdklasse, and DSS would compete in the lower Eerste Klasse. The Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB), the national governing body for baseball, supported the change.[32][33]