56 games into the 2020 season, the Wolves lost its number one starter Sinclair Kooijman with a torn triceps muscle. The injury was supposed to sideline the number 1 hurler until September. The Wolves, at the time, were floundering at 27-29 but still clinging to 1st place in the division. Some expected the Wolves to drop out of the race after the injury. But as indicated, the club rallied behind the Kooijman injury and still won the division, going on a tear (no pun intended).
News only got worse for the Kooijman later that season. Just weeks before the post-season, when Kooijman was expected to return to the rotation to help bolster the Wolves rotation for the post-season, news broke that Sinclair's torn triceps muscle was way worse than originally expected. The muscle hadn't healed properly, if much at all. It was announced the Kooijman would never be able to pitch again. His career was over at the age of 24. The Wolves recovered and won 97 games the following season without Kooijman, but the lack of a young ace who was cost controlled put the club in a bind. The club began a 9-year rebuild in 2021 that saw the club experience nearly a decade of losing seasons.
Sinclair took the news especially hard and returned to his home in Curacao. He was not heard from much again. On several occasions, team officials reported having tried reaching out to Kooijman with little or no success. Several rumors circulated that he had returned home and was addicted to drugs. Other reports were alcohol. Some reports he just went home, became an elementary school teacher and was coaching some youth kids. None of those rumors were ever confirmed nor denied.
Then this week, out of the blue, Madison Wolves officials had made a subtle comment that they had been in discussion with Sinclair who had returned to the states in November. Many people shrugged off the comments not really knowing who Sinclair Kooijman really even was. But it appears those conversations have materialized into something bigger this week as Wolves GM Chris Wilson announced today: "We are pleased to announced that former pitching great Sinclair Kooijman has returned to the states and has agreed to become the new pitching coach of our rookie league team in Charlottesville, Virginia. Kooijman has been living in Curacao since 2020, but has finally decided that a return to the game he once loved was something that he needed and wanted to do. We've been in talks with Sinclair for the better part of two weeks and he's agreed that being around the younger players was a good place for him to start his coaching journey."
The 40-year old Kooijman has been out of the game for the better part of 2 decades. While his ability to throw is still severely impacted, his knowledge is not. "I'm excited to return. Returning to the game has been calling me for sometime now. My family, my wife and 2 young boys, have been wanting to come to America. Baseball has become a slight passion of their's and they've heard me mention briefly some of the things I did when I was younger. They wanted to experience that so it just felt right. While I can't throw like I used to, I still have some ability to toss it around. While I never uncork a fastball for fear of the pain coming back, I can toss it around in the low 70s from time to time. But I still 'know' how to pitch so hopefully I can pass that along to the younger guys the Wolves pick up."
Kooijman will travel with the club to Spring Training to get accustomed to the Wolves coaching and pitching philosophy. He'll stick with the Wolves until the team's Rookie League starts in June of 2039.