Andreas Becker

Andreas Becker (Buko)

• Throws Right

• Born June 23, 1969 in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany

Biographical Information

Andreas Becker played in the Bundesliga and for the German national team.

Becker walked 2 in a third of an inning for Germany in the 1990 B-Level European Championship. In the 1992 B-Level European Championship, he walked 6 in 2 2/3 IP but also fanned 6 and allowed only one run. He started their opener in the 1993 European Championship but lost to Mariano Marchini and Italy, allowing 3 hits, 5 walks and 4 runs (all earned) in 1 2/3 IP (with one K, Ruggero Bagialemani); Heino von Bargen relieved. He had Germany's highest ERA in the event; Martin Helmig was next at 12.71.

The first Bundesliga-1 stats available for him are from 1996, when he had a 1-8, 7.78 record for the Paderborn Untouchables and hit .286/.400/.413. His 84 strikeouts were second in the Bundesliga-1 north behind Dominican Hidalgo Lavidou but he also tied Ralf Eckel for the most losses, was second to Michael de Gelmini in walks (63 to 59, in 56 2/3 IP!) and easily paced the circuit with 30 wild pitches. In 1997, he improved to 8-3, 3.88 with 89 K in 69 2/3 innings, though he walked 61. He batted .296/.486/.481. He made leaderboards for ERA (3rd, behind Michael Wäller and Alexander Schnitzler), K (1st, two ahead of de Gelmini), wins (tied René Herlitzius for 3rd), innings (6th), walks (1st, 5 more than Dirk Günther), wild pitches (14, 2nd, 4 behind de Gelmini) and K/IP (1st, .16 ahead of Herlitzius).

The Dortmund native was 3-3 with a 3.75 ERA in 1998 and fell to .167/.258/.259 on offense. He only made the league leaders in hit batsmen (10, tied for 6th). He did not pitch in the Bundesliga in 1999 but still made Germany's team for the 1999 European Championship. He made two appearances, working 2 2/3 IP and allowing four hits, a walk and five runs (three earned) while striking out four. He returned to the Bundesliga-1 in 2000 and went 0-8 with a 8.34 ERA for the last-place Holzwickede Joboxers while producing at a .281/.378/.391 clip. He was 9th in steals (8), tied for 3rd in errors (14), 4th in losses, 6th in walks (41), tied Thorsten Wöhner for second with 25 wild pitches and was 7th in K/IP (.99).

In 2001, he won a title while returning to Paderborn. The veteran went 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in four outings and was 5 for 24 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch in a backup role. He vanished from the Bundesliga-1 for another two seasons then returned in '05 with the Joboxers (after playing for them in Bundesliga-2 the prior year). He hit .284/.410/.343 in his age 36 season and allowed four runs in two innings in his last pitching action. He tied Marc Marsch for 4th in steals (11) and tied for 1st with 16 errors, playing shortstop mostly but also catcher, pitcher, third base and right field.

Andreas and Holzwickede was in Bundesliga-2 in 2006 then he moved to his hometown Dortmund Wanderers (also then in Bundesliga-2) in 2007. In 2008, they made it to Bundesliga-1 and he hit .217/.400/.229 with 11 steals in 13 tries while nearing age 40, starting in right field for them. He tied for 5th in the loop with 9 times plunked, tied Kai Gronauer for 9th in steals and tied for first with five outfield assists. He played one last season, batting .266/.359/.278 for the 2009 Wanderers while playing error-free defense (32 PO, 1 A) in right.

Primary source: German Baseball and Softball Federation