Didi Gregorius
From BR Bullpen
Johannes Gregorius Sr.
- Bats Right, Throws Right
Didi Gregorius was part of a family of Dutch pitchers. His father was a popular hurler in Curaçao. Didi began his Hoofdklasse Honkbal career with the 1984 Amsterdam Pirates and spent 7 seasons there before moving to Haarlem Nicols for 3 years. After two years in Curaçao, he was with Sparta in 1996. He then pitched for Amsterdam again 2001 and 2002 and Almere '90 in 2003. He had 49 wins overall for Amsterdam.
In one game in 2002, Didi almost drove in the winning run in his first at-bat since 1988. That year, he was in the league's top 10 in complete games (2) and strikeouts.
Gregorius pitched for the Netherlands Antilles in events 24 years apart. In the 1984 Amateur World Series, he allowed 14 runs (8 earned) in 9 innings, giving up 12 hits (7 of them for extra bases), walking five, hitting one and throwing two wild pitches; the positive was 7 strikeouts. 24 years later, he and son Johnny Gregorius were teammates for the Dutch Antilles in the 2008 Americas Baseball Cup. Didi was 1-1 with a save and a 4.11 ERA in the event, while Johnny made the All-Star team as the Antilles won a spot in the 2009 Baseball World Cup with their showing.
He also has served as an assistant coach for Amsterdam.
His son Johnny Gregorius followed him into Hoofdklasse and another son, Mariekson Gregorius, played in the US minors.
