Eugene Helder

Eugene Alexander Junior Helder

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

• Born February 26, 1996 in Oranjestad Aruba

BR register page

Biographical Information

Eugene Helder reached AAA and has been on the Dutch national team. He is the son of Eugene Helder Sr.

Helder was signed by Seattle Mariners scout Karel Williams in October 2013. He hit .267/.336/.364 with the 2014 VSL Mariners, splitting time between short and third but playing regularly. In 2015, he hit .313/.355/.382 for the DSL Mariners 1 followed by .277/.349/.327 for the 2016 DSL Mariners (with 19 steals in 24 tries). Coming stateside, he split 2017 between the Everett AquaSox (.304/.346/.409 in 70 G) and Tacoma Rainiers (3 for 18, 3B). He led the Northwest League in hits (87, one ahead of Miguel Aparicio), tied for 5th in triples (5) and tied Ryan Kirby for 2nd with 117 total bases. He led NWL third basemen in fielding (.952), double plays (11) and putouts (50). Danny Edgeworth beat him out for honors as the All-Star third baseman.

With the 2018 Clinton LumberKings, he slipped to .240/.305/.357 then batted .234/.294/.329 for the '19 Modesto Nuts. He played for Aruba in the 2019 Caribbean Baseball Cup. Going to Italy, he was 11-for-27 with four walks and a double for Bologna in the 2020 Serie A1. Bologna won the 2020 Italian Series and he drove in Julian Dreni with the title-winner.

He next played for Draci Brno in the Czech Republic. When they won the 2021 CEB Cup, he was a key part, going 7-for-16 with 4 doubles, 3 homers, 5 walks and 8 runs in 4 games. He was third in runs (behind Pabel Manzanero and Alexander Perdomo), tied for second in doubles (one behind Blake Ochoa), was third in dingers (one shy of Manzanero and Perdomo), led in OPS (108 ahead of Manzanero) and tied for 4th in walks. The MVP, though, went to Perdomo. In the Extraliga that summer, he hit .391/.468/.690 with 27 RBI and 18 doubles in 28 games. He was among the leaders in average (5th, between Brett Holtz and Jakub Kubica), OBP (8th), slugging (5th, between Martin Mužík and Marek Minařík), OPS (4th, between Manzanero and Mužík), doubles (1st, 4 ahead of Radim Novotný) and extra-base hits (21, 4th).

Helder was 1 for 13 in the 2022 European Champions Cup. He helped Draci Brno win the Czech title by producing at a .434/.490/.744 with 44 runs, 41 RBI and 8 homers in 44 games. He was 5th with 8 homers, trailed only Martin Červinka and Manzanero in RBI, tied those two guys for 4th in hits, won the batting title by 10 points ahead of Martin Červenka, trailed only Cervenka and Matěj Menšík in OBP, trailed the same two in slugging and OPS, tied Arnošt Dubový for the double lead (16 again), was behind Cervinka and Cervenka in runs, was second to Cervenka in extra-base hits and trailed Cervenka in total bases.

After two years in the Czech Republic, he was back in Italy for 2023. He hit .360/.467/.496 with 32 runs in 34 games. He tied Gabriel Lino for 10th in runs. He helped Bologna win the 2023 Italian Series and again had a nice hit in the clinching game, going deep off Dimitri Kourtis. Playing for the Netherlands in the 2024 Haarlem Baseball Week, he hit .400/.400/.520 and cracked a grand slam off Spain's Carlos Sierra. He tied Jake Munroe for 3rd in hits, tied for 7th in RBI and was 3rd in average. The Netherlands won the Bronze.

That summer in Italy, he hit .379/.455/.516 in 30 games. He was back with the Netherlands for the 2024 Premier 12. In their opening win, he played first base and batted 6th in the opener. He was retired by Panama's Jaime Barría his first two times up but then singled off him the next and came around to score. With the game tied at 7 in the 8th, he singled off Abdiel Mendoza and led to the go-ahead run, but Delano Selassa had run for him by then.