Player signings - part 1

Hyvinkää have had a turbulent time since the pandemic has struck. How will they shape up in 2020
Photograph from Hyvinkää Facebook (c) Hyvinkään Tahko 2019

In this series of posts I will look at the players who have changed teams since last season and consider which teams are better or worse off coming into the 2020 season. In this first post I look at the current player lists for Hyvinkää, IPV and Joensuu.


Hyvinkään Tahko

Tahko added some strong players in Tuikka and Vikström in the offseason, with the pair coming off the back of a successful season with Sotkamo. In the Halli-SM group games, Tuikka played the same role as he had done for Sotkamo in 2019, batting 5th and playing at first base. Vikström on the other hand has seen a significant change in his role, fielding at second base (rather than a joker) and batting 3rd. Both players had solid outings in the groups games and it was going to be interesting to see if their addition to Tahko’s lineup would have brought greater success in 2020. Malikine comes off the back of a tough year with Koskenkorva, playing at third base. Malikine is still a young player, 18 years old, who had a great deal of game experience in Superpesis in 2019, which was his rookie year (albeit his debut was a single game in 2018 for KPL). In the Halli-SM group games, Malikine only played against KPL and did so in the catcher role (sieppari). 

Due to the impact of coronavirus, Tuikka has mutually terminated his contract with Hyvinkää, alongside the game manager. During the 2019 regular season they failed to capitalise on opportunities to win more games prior to the East v West game, despite scoring 155 runs over 17 games and conceding only 104. From the practice games in the run up to the start of the Superpesis season, Hyvinkää have looked sharp offensively, but have been found lacking in defence. It will be a tough year for Hyvinkää, but if they can weather the storm they should be sitting comfortably in the top 8.


New signings

Kristian Malikine - Koskenkorvan Urheilijat

**Markus Tuikka - Sotkamon Jymy

Jere Vikström - Sotkamon Jymy


Departures

Aku Kettunen - Koskenkorvan Urheilijat


** this player will not play for Hyvinkää in 2020



Will Jussila be the key to IPV’s success?
Photograph from IPV Facebook (c) Imatran Pallo-Veikot 2020
Imatran Pallo-Veikot

IPV have added double Finnish champion Tuomas Jussila to their lineup for 2020. This signing is significant and will be a big boost to a team that ended up on the wrong end of the table in the regular season, finishing 9th on the final day. Defensively, IPV gave up 280 runs over 30 games in 2019, one of the worst in the league - by signing Jussila to fill the left shortstop role, IPV are hoping that they will do better in 2020. In addition, long time KiPa regular Ville Hämäläinen joins IPV for 2020. Hämäläinen batted 9th in the Halli-SM group games and failed to register a successful hit in his first 2 games. Hämäläinen brings some needed experience to IPV, with series in the postseason in 9 seasons. Juho Toivola was a solid player for KoU in 2019, with the 38th highest number of successful hits. In the Halli-SM group games Toivola had 12 successful hits, placing him in joint 20th place. IPV have made some good signings ahead of 2020, but they are still some way off being seen as serious contenders for a championship. With the loss of Jere Dahlström and Konsta Kurikka, IPV will be leaning on the leadership of Jussila and hoping for an improvement in defence to earn their place in the top 8.


New signings

Ville Hämäläinen - Kiteen Pallo -90 

Tuomas Jussila - Joensuun Maila

Juho Toivola - Koskenkorvan Urheilijat


Departures

Jere Dahlström - Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat

Konsta Kurikka- Sotkamon Jymy



Joensuun Maila

For the second consecutive year Joensuu were crowned champions in 2019 and dominated in the postseason against some of the toughest opponents. It was hard to see where JoMa needed to bolster their lineup for 2020, but with Juha Niemi leaving for Manse PP and Tuomas Jussila leaving for IPV, there were a couple of openings. To some extent Antti Hartikainen will add the firepower needed to fill the gap Niemi has left. Hartikainen is a veteran of the game and is no stranger to winning, having won 8 championships, 4 silver medals and 2 bronze medals in his career. In 2019 Hartikainen led the league in successful hits, albeit he batted home only 5 runners. Hartikainen had a respectable 42 runs in the season with KPL. It is not clear where Hartikainen will slot into an already elite team, but he is an elite player with some serious skills.


Topi Hurskainen makes the short journey from Kitee to Joensuu for 2020. Hurskainen was a big deal for Kitee in 2019, with 53 runs in the season he found himself 5th in the statistics table. Kitee had a great deal of success in bringing Hurskainen home to score and his constant threat around the bases made them competitive. In the Halli-SM group games Hurskainen found himself at the top end of the statistics table yet again with a solid 5 runs from 3 games.


Simo Vainikainen was a standout star for struggling SiiPe in 2019 and was instrumental in the team remaining in Superpesis for 2020. If you wanted to pick a young an aspiring player with great energy, Simo was a good choice. Whether Simo will see much game time remains to be seen, but he is a good investment for the team and a solid player to lean on if there is a need to rest or replace someone in the regular lineup.


Joensuu have been successful over the years in building and nurturing talent. The making of the championship winning side was carefully crafted and improved over time. It is no wonder that in the offseason Joensuu have snapped up Vainikainen and Hurskainen, as well as bringing veteran Hartikainen into the fold. Will the 2020 signings mean that the championship is all but assured? I think the answer lies more in the fact that the team already had great prospects at retaining their title.


New signings

Antti Hartikainen - Kouvolan Pallonlyöjat

Topi Hurskainen - Kiteen Pallo -90

Simo Vainikainen - Siilinjärven Pesis 


Departures

Tuomas Jussila - Imatran Pallo-Veikot


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