Chris Beck (Bundesliga)

Christopher Beck

• Bats Left, Throws Right

• School UNC Pembroke

• Born June 18, 1985

Biographical Information

Chris Beck won a MVP award in Germany.

Beck hit .326/.395/.382 with 39 runs in 54 games as a college senior, fielding .910. He came to play in the German Bundesliga with the 2008 Solingen Alligators. He had received an email about playing baseball in Germany and had initially ignored it as he did not believe that such a thing existed. He hit a whopping .531/.595/.854 with 16 doubles, 6 triples, 20 walks, 45 runs, 31 RBI and 18 steals in 23 games, while fielding .948 at short and tossing three shutout innings (3 BB, 8 K, 0 H). He was among the northern Bundesliga-1 leaders in almost every category: average (1st, 92 points over Kai Gronauer), runs (1st by 9), RBI (3rd), hits (1st, 51, ahead of Anderson Alvarez), doubles (7 more than anyone else), triples (1st; no one else had more than two), walks (tied for 8th), slugging (1st by 194), OBP (1st by 59 points), OPS (1st by 217 points over Gronauer), steals (tied for 1st) and fielding at short (just behind Octavio Medina, also rounded to .948). For all of that, he was named the league MVP.

Chris had another fine year for the 2009 Alligators, batting .415/.536/.638 with 26 walks, 40 runs, 28 RBI and 19 steals (in 21 tries) in 24 games, then improved to .441/.513/.852 in the postseason. He fielded .972 at short. He was second in the league in average, tied for fifth in homers, tied for first in hits (39), tied for 5th in doubles (7), first in triples (4), first in runs, first in walks, first in steals, third in slugging, second in OBP, first in OPS (.003 over Matt Pali) and again second in fielding at SS, just behind Medina.

For 2010, Beck moved to the Heidenheim Heideköpfe and produced at a .422/.522/.556 clip with 30 runs, 22 RBI and 15 steals (caught 5 times) in 23 games, while fielding .976 at short. He was among the southern Bundesliga-1 leaders in average (4th, between Matt Vance and Sascha Lutz), runs (tied for 5th with Simon Gühring, Ludwig Glaser and Jakub Voják), OBP (1st by .001 over Dennis Kelly), steals (tied for 3rd), OPS (6th) and fielding at SS (1st).

Beck was superb in the 2010 European Cup. He went 12 for 23 with 4 doubles, a triple, two homers, four walks, two steals and 9 runs in 5 games in round one. He helped lead Heidenheim to a spot in the European Cup Final Four and was among the Brno pool leaders in average (4th after Brandon Taylor, Juan Carlos Infante and Boris Marche), slugging (1st, .001 over Taylor), OBP (4th, between Marche and Taylor), runs (tied for 1st with Gühring and Shurty Tremus), hits (2nd, one behind Taylor), doubles (tied for first with Marche), RBI (tied for 8th, 6), triples (tied for second), homers (tied for second, one behind Taylor) and total bases (2nd, one behind Taylor). In the crucial 10-7 upset over the Konica Minolta Pioniers, he doubled, walked and hit a 2-run homer off Dave Draijer. In the Final Four, he went 2 for 9 with a walk, double, RBI and two errors. In the championship game, with a chance to make Heidenheim the first German European Cup champs, he doubled off Cody Cillo (one of two hits Cillo allowed in 8 innings) and singled in the lone German run, off Fabio Milano in the 10th. They lost 2-1 to Fortitudo Bologna.

Returning to the Alligators for 2011, he hit .457/.516/.654 with 17 steals in 18 tries. He was among the leaders in average (1st, 17 points over Elliot Biddle), hits (tied for 9th with Jendrick Speer at 37), slugging (3rd behind Biddle and Daniel Lamb-Hunt), steals (5th) and OBP (3rd after Craig Pycock and Lamb-Hunt).

Beck followed his former Heidenheim manager, Mike Hartley, to the Croatian national team for the 2012 European Championship. He went 2 for 18 with 7 walks, 3 runs, 3 RBI and 3 steals in 4 tries, while making 6 errors and fielding only .824. He led the event in walks (one ahead of Lukas Jahn and Gabriele Ermini) and tied Joris Bert and Luc Piquet for first in steals but also led in errors. In the 9th/10th place game, he had a crucial 2-run error in a 3-2 loss to Belgium.

Sources

• CEB
• UNC Pembroke
• Interview with Mister-Baseball
• German baseball federation