Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training Gameday Thread, #22: 3/18 vs. Netherlands

Diamondbacks line-up

1. Kristopher Negrón 2B
2. Daniel Descalso 3B
3. Chris Owings SS
4. Jason Pridie 1B
5. Chris Iannetta C
6. Oswaldo Arcia RF
7. Colin Bray CF
8. Jake Goebbert LF
9. Zack Greinke P

Netherlands is already guaranteed to match their best performance ever in the World Baseball Classic, 2013’s fourth-place, having qualified for the final four in San Diego. It’s a far cry from their debut tournament in 2006, where they managed only one win, over Panama, and finished 11th. Courtesy mostly of former colonies such as Curacao and Aruba, they have a solid team, particularly around the infield. The Dutch team are especially over-stocked at shortstop, where they could start All-Star Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox), Gold Glover Andrelton Simmons (Angels) or former Diamondback Didi Gregorius (Yankees) - once (in)famously compared by Kevin Towers to a young Derek Jeter. Ah, those were the days, eh?

This will be our first foray to spring training, as we’re linking up with edbigghead, Turambar, and a number of others for BruteSquadSnakePitSpringTrainingFest at Salt River Fields this afternoon. We will be the loud section, probably yelling something about clogs. In honor of the WBC, I will be wearing my vintage Henry Blanco 2013 Venezuela shirt, rather than the usual SnakePit one, so come say hello if you see it/me. Recap on this one will also be a bit late, as we have to wend our way back from SRF to SnakePit Towers.