Yntema was born in the
Dominican Republic. His Frisian Dutch father worked there as a diplomat, where he married a Dominican nurse and has lived since 1972. After having completed his primary and secondary education in
Santo Domingo at age 17, Yntema was signed as an undrafted
free agent by the
San Francisco Giants in 2003. He played in the
Dominican Summer League in 2003 and 2005 and the
Arizona League in 2004 and 2006 before missing 2007 with an injury. He played in Class-A in 2008 and 2009 with the
Augusta Greenjackets and
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. He played in the
Italian Baseball League in 2010 and then the
Dutch Major League in 2011 and 2012. He also played for the
Netherlands national baseball team in the
2010 Intercontinental Cup, the
2011 Baseball World Cup, the
2013 World Baseball Classic, the , the
2014 European Baseball Championship, the
2015 World Port Tournament, the
2015 WBSC Premier12, the , 2016 exhibition games against
Japan, and the
2017 World Baseball Classic. In 2011, he got the win in the final game of the World Championship final against Cuba. He pitched seven innings and allowed one run. He played for Team Netherlands in the
2019 European Baseball Championship, and competed for it at the
Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019. == References ==