European pitching prospect eager to embark on Yankees journey
Finding talent in the major leagues is difficult for any scout, but Troy Williams has it tougher than most.
He traveled Europe, Africa and the Middle East in search of the Yankees. These places aren’t exactly hotbeds for future big players.
“I’m a very, very important man who covers a ton of ground,” Williams recently joked to the Daily News. “No, if you believe that, I have sand to sell you in the desert. I cover a very, very large geographic area, but there isn’t a lot of talent in these places.”
With legitimate prospects so rare in his assigned areas, Williams is even prouder when the Yankees sign one of his recommendations. This happened in December, when he helped the Bombers sign Dutchman Tijn Fredrikze.
The 18-year-old pitching prospect, who received a $90,000 bonus as part of some turnover in the Yankees’ international recruiting department, is believed to be the first European-born and raised player to sign with the team since Poland’s Artur Strzałka in 2013.
Strzałka never got past rookie ball. Fredrikze aims much higher.
“I want to be a Hall of Famer,” the baby-faced but confident southpaw told The News during a WhatsApp video call earlier this offseason. “That’s my goal. My first goal was to get signed, and as I got closer to that goal, my goals changed very quickly. I just want to be the best. I want to win a World Series.”
Obviously, Fredrikze already knows how to satisfy Yankees fans, but it will take a lot of time, patience and development for him to achieve such lofty feats.
“There’s a lot of things he has to continue to work on and do to progress and get better,” Williams said, but he added that “We wouldn’t draft a kid if we didn’t hope, anticipate and expect that he would one day make the big league.
“I hope we’ll be talking about him in ten years.”
Williams, who said other scouts played a role in signing Fredrikze, had his eyes on the pitcher for a few years. In 2025, he watched Fredrikze, much younger than his competitors’ average, lead the Dutch Major League with 76 strikeouts while posting a 3.90 ERA over 60 innings for Kinheim in Haarlem, North Holland. Fredrikze did it with a fastball ranging from 88 to 91 mph and a go-to curveball. He also throws a sinker and a changeup.
A look at Tijn Fredrikze of the MLB World Select Team. The LHP had a great outing on the mound today with a quality 3-pitch mix.
EN: 85-86, 88
CH: 80-81
BC: 77-78Netherlands 2025 #uncommitted@AZFallClassic / @FiveTool_Intl
Profile: https://t.co/bSQiMhpdjS pic.twitter.com/sGhTsMnYXe
– Five Tools Arizona (@FiveToolAZ) September 29, 2024
Williams likes Fredrikze’s makeup and presence — “he never backed down against anyone” — but noted the pitcher will need to improve his command and speed. The latter should happen naturally, as Fredrikze expects to grow beyond his current skinny stature of 6 feet.
“The doctors told me I was going to be 6-2, 6-3,” he said, a hint of hope in his voice. “My dad and grandparents grew up to be 21, so I think it’s still possible.”
Fredrikze, who will begin his in-state career as a starter in the rookie-level Florida Complex League, said he plans to report to the Yankees’ player development complex in Tampa in February or early March. He will then be thousands of kilometers from the Netherlands.
However, Fredrikze feels well equipped for the challenge, having been a part of TeamNL, a Dutch program that serves as a boarding school for baseball players and requires him to live on his own for 2.5 years while training twice a day and playing games. Fredrikze, who also attended the Rotterdam academy run by former Yankee Robert Eenhoorn, traveled to Puerto Rico and Barcelona, where he participated in the MLB European Development Tournament, also for baseball.
He is used to being on the move and is comfortable with the English language. Fredrikze also sought advice from his compatriots who played professionally in America, including former Red Sox farmhand Stijn Van Der Schaaf, as he went through the signing process with the Yankees.
“It’s going to be different because you’re away from home, but I think the foundation is already laid,” Fredrikze said.
Fredrikze certainly wasn’t going to let distance stand in his way, as he had imagined himself to be a great player ever since he started playing baseball at age 6. He was a bit of an outlier among his peers, as soccer is the flagship sport of the mainland Netherlands, which has produced only 11 MLB players, including former Yankee Didi Gregorius and Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven.
But Fredrikze said he was drawn to the “aura” of another Cooperstown immortal, as he idolized former Yankee and fellow lefty Randy Johnson. These days, two other lefties, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and the Yankees’ Max Fried, are Fredrikze’s “biggest idols.”
He can’t wait to introduce himself to the latter this spring.
That Fredrikze is even able to do this is a huge satisfaction.
“It means a lot,” he said of joining the Yankees. “I’ve been working on this for a while now. This was my dream, and to see it come true this way, I couldn’t describe it better. I think it’s the best we can do. It’s the biggest organization out there, so I’m really, really proud.”
