Outfielder NTEMA 'PAPPY' NDUNGIDI of the FREDERICK KEYS was selected as the WITTNAUER Player of the Month for April 2000 in the ' A ' CAROLINA LEAGUE...NDUNGIDI hit .309 (25-for-81) with 5 homeruns and 17 RBI with 7 doubles, a triple, 5 stolen bases and his .605 slugging percentage was tops in the league...In 1999, NDUNGIDI hit .266 with no homers and 18 RBI in 60 games with Frederick...Before joining the Keys, he had hit only .194 with 24 RBI in 64 games with the DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS...The BALTIMORE ORIOLES drafted the 21-year-old native of ZAIRE (formerly CONGO) with a sandwich pick (36th overall) between the first and second rounds in 1997 becoming the highest drafted player ever from the province of Quebec...previously pitcher MARTIN MAINVILLE had been selected with the 55th overall pick of the 1995 draft by the hometown MONTREAL EXPOS....Ndungidi moved with his family to MONTREAL in 1982 at the age of 3...Because his high school did not have a baseball team he played for Canada's ACADEMY of BASEBALL select team, comprised of the best amateur players in the country, and homered off a speaker bank near the top of Montreal's OLYMPIC STADIUM in an amateur game...The correct pronunciation of his name should be ENN-teema DOON-gee-dee. ( 5-5-2000 ).

Special to Canadian Baseball News – April 2000