Ferenc Jongejan

Jongejan played college baseball for the Lindenwood Lions and North Alabama Lions. Before signing professionally in the United States, he pitched for Twins Oosterhout and Pioniers in the Dutch Honkbal Hoofdklasse.^[1][2]

Jongejan signed with the Chicago Cubs after impressing a scout at the 2000 Summer Olympics.^[1] played Minor League Baseball in the Cubs' farm system between 2001 and 2004 with the Lansing Lugnuts, West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, Iowa Cubs and Daytona Cubs.^[3] He suffered a back injury in 2003.^[4] He pitched for Neptunus in the Netherlands in 2004, winning the Holland Series. He then dealt with more injuries, ending his playing career.^[5][1]

Manager Pat Murphy selected Jongejan for the Netherlands national team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Murphy had difficulty saying Jongejan's name, so he called the pitcher "Frankie Johnson". The Dutch team finished fifth, with Jongejan striking out Dave Nilsson of Australia and earning a save.^[6] Jongejan had 2 saves over four games, allowing 2 runs in 5+1⁄3 innings.^[7] Four years later at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, they were sixth. He threw 4+1⁄3 scoreless innings.^[8]

In October 2012, Jongejan was named the manager of UVV Utrecht in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse.^[9] During the 2014 season, he played in one game for his team.^[3] He left the team after the 2016 season.^[10][11]

In 2017, he became an assistant coach for Dutch women's softball team at Terrasvogels [nl], then was the team's head coach in 2018. After one season at the helm, he became the pitching coach of the Netherlands women's national softball team. He became the national team's manager in November 2019.^[12][5] After the 2024 World Cup, he became a technical director for softball at the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation.^[13]