From poffertjes to Portillo’s
Released by the Nationals, Netherlands native Martina gets back to work with Windy City ThunderBolts
In his first season with the Windy City ThunderBolts, infielder Junior Martina is a long way from his home in South Holland.
No, not the one in the south suburbs about 10 miles from the T-Bolts’ home at Ozinga Field in Crestwood. Martina lives in Voorschoten, South Holland, in the Netherlands.
“Baseball has taken me a lot of places around the world,” Martina said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Martina got in on the fun Tuesday as the T-Bolts hosted a new event — the Frontier League skills competition, held a day before the league’s All-Star Game.
Martina participated in the precision hitting contest. Batters had to hit four targets around the field before capping it off by hitting a pitch into center field for a teammate to catch, stopping the clock in the timed competition.
Martina completed the challenge in 2 minutes, 10 seconds but finished last among the four competitors. Craig Massey of the Florence Y’alls won the event with times of 1:20 in the first round and 53 seconds in the finals.
For the skills competition, which featured five events, All-Star players were placed on four teams, with each representing a local nonprofit. The team representing the Trinity Christian College athletic department was victorious over teams supporting the Bremen High School band, the Do It Stevie’s Way Foundation and the Special Recreation Athletic Support Association.
Martina and T-Bolts teammate Bren Spillane were on the Do It Stevie’s Way team, and Martina is thrilled to be an All-Star in his first season in Crestwood.
Despite being released by the Washington Nationals last summer following four seasons in their organization, Martina is not giving up on his dream.