Hensley Meulens

Hensley Meulens
San Francisco Giants – No. 31
Outfielder/Hitting coach
Born: June 23, 1967 (1967-06-23) Willemstad, Curaçao
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 23, 1989 for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
May 14, 1998 for the Arizona Diamondbacks
Career statistics
Batting average	.220
Home runs	15
Runs batted in	53
Teams
New York Yankees (1989–1993) Chiba Lotte Marines (1994) (NPB) Yakult Swallows (1995–1996) (NPB) Montreal Expos (1997) Arizona Diamondbacks (1998) SK Wyverns (2000) (KBO)
Career highlights and awards
Carolina League All-Star (1987) Eastern League All-Star (1988) International League All-Star (1990), (1992) International League MVP (1990)

Hensley Filemon Acasio Meulens (born June 23, 1967) is a Curaçaoan former professional baseball player and current hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants. He played from 1989 to 2000 in Major League Baseball, Nippon Professional Baseball, and the Korea Baseball Organization. He was the first major leaguer to come from Curaçao (which has since produced other players, including Andruw Jones, Randall Simon, and Jair Jurrjens). When Meulens worked as the hitting coach in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization he often acted both as unofficial team translator for the Indians and as Japanese scout for the Pirates because he speaks five languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, Papiamento and Japanese.

Hitting home runs left-handed while playing softball as a teenager earned Meulens the nickname "Bam Bam" when his friends compared his power to the Flintstones cartoon character.

Over the course of his career, Meulens would become the first to play for all four of the major Caribbean winter leagues.

Early career (1985–1993)

Hensley Meulens was signed by the Yankees as an undrafted free agent in 1985. After struggling in his first professional season in 1986 with the Gulf Coast Yankees, Meulens made a splash in 1987 with Single-A Prince William, hitting .300 with 28 HR and 103 RBI, also being named to the Carolina League All-Star team. His hitting cooled somewhat in 1988 & 1989 as he split time between the Double-A Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Eastern League and the Triple-A Columbus Clippers of the International League.

His bat rebounded in 1990 for Columbus as he helped lead the team to the 1990 International League championships (where they ultimately lost to Rochester), hitting .285 with 26 HR and 96 RBI, and was named the 1990 International League MVP. Meulens' impressive 1990 season earned him a spot on the Yankees roster in 1991, but he was back in Columbus in 1992 to help lead the Clippers to the Governors' Cup Championship.

1993 was a frustrating year for Meulens, at the end of which the Yankees sold his contract to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Career as a New York Yankee (1989–1993)

He made his Major League debut with the New York Yankees August 23, 1989. While having great success hitting minor league pitching, Meulens never attained a permanent spot on the New York lineup, despite spending the entire 1991 season on the Yankees roster. Averaging a strike-out every three at bats, Meulens platooned in left field with the more consistent hitting Mel Hall. He saw limited action with the Yankees in late-season call-ups in 1992 and 1993.

Japan (1994–1996)

In November 1993, the Yankees sold Meulens' contract to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball, where he spent the 1994 season, hitting 23 home runs and driving in 69 runs while accumulating 135 strikeouts. The following season, Meulens signed with the Yakult Swallows, helping lead the Swallows to the 1995 Japan Series Championship.

Back to America (1997–2002)

He returned to North America in 1997, and after an unsuccessful tryout with the Atlanta Braves, he reached the Majors again briefly playing with the Montreal Expos (while having a good season for the Expos' AAA affiliate Ottawa Lynx) and Arizona Diamondbacks. Unable to secure a contract with a major league team in 1999, Meulens signed with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League. He made one last stop in Asia, playing 14 games with the SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization and batting only .196, before heading his professional playing career to the Mexican League with the Saraperos de Saltillo in 2001 and finally retiring, in 2002, after a mid-season injury while playing with the Pericos de Puebla.

International competition

Meulens represented the Netherlands at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. His 4th inning double gave the Cuban team their first Olympic loss in 21 games. Ultimately, the Netherlands took fifth place in the final standings. He returned to the team as a coach for the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Meulens also played for the Dutch team in the 2001 Baseball World Cup in Chinese Taipei and 2002 Intercontinental Cup in Havana, Cuba.

Coaching career

Meulens began his coaching career with the Bluefield Orioles for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. From 2005-2008, he was the hitting coach of the Indianapolis Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, also coaching in the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Saguaros in 2005 and the Hawaii Winter Baseball league for the Honolulu Sharks in the 2006 off-season. In 2009, Meulens served as hitting coach for the Fresno Grizzlies, the AAA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants of the Pacific Coast League. Meulens reached the Major League ranks as batting coach in 2010, serving as hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants following the firing of previous hitting coach Carney Lansford. In the year 2010 he won the World Series with the Giants.

Hensley Meulens also runs the Dutch Antilles Baseball Academy in Curaçao. He is reportedly interested in starting a baseball league in Curaçao in association with Major League Baseball's RBI Program.

Personal Life

Meulens has two daughters Michelle MarIise Aimee Meulens-Ebecilio (1989) and Danielle Marie Antonia Meulens-Ebecilio (1992). In 2010 Meulens welcomed a third child Elijah Gabriel Ludwig.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Statistics at Japanese Baseball