From Moneyball to the Netherlands with Melvin Perdue

From a strong NCAA D2 conference, Melvin played pro ball in Texas which eventually led to a role in the movie Moneyball. After Moneyball, Melvin had numerous independent baseball offers but decided to take his career overseas to experience other parts of the world and ended up in the Netherlands. Now, four years later, Melvin is still playing Dutch baseball and is heavily involved in youth development within the club. Melvin shares a lot of information on the second Dutch division and the opportunities within and is also able to speak on the opportunities in the first division, Hoofdklasse a.k.a Dutch Major League. Unfortunately, Melvin tells the same story as other IBC interviewee's on Dutch baseball, which is that of a steady decline of importing of professional players from the US due to visa restrictions. This has presented an opportunity for Canadian baseball players who play at a high level as Canada has a working holiday visa agreement with the Netherlands. Australia has the same deal with the Dutch and are also in higher demand these days. Using his experience in Dutch baseball to draw from, Melvin goes into detail on the level of baseball and the level and type of player that Dutch clubs are looking for.