Emil Sahlin

Emil Sahlin Söderlund

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• High School Leksand Gymnasium

• Born May 22, 1995

Biographical Information

Emil Sahlin has played in the Elitserien and for the Swedish national team.

In the 2013 Elitserien, he was 1-7 with a 9.17 ERA, pitching for the Alby Stars and Akademin. That year, he was with Sweden for the European Junior Championship, he was used exclusively on offense (.385/.600/.462, 6 R, 6 BB in 5 G). He tied Bastien Dagneau for 4th in the event in OBP and tied for 3rd in walks.

Sahlin split 2014 between the Leksand Lumberjacks (.241/.328/.258; 3-2, 4.11) and Akademin (.250/.411/.275; 0-3, 14.65). He was with Sweden for the 2014 European Championship. In his debut for them, he played center field in the opener against Great Britain, going 0 for 3 with two whiffs against Spencer Kreisberg. His pitching debut was much better; working the 6th and 7th innings of a 12-3 loss to Italy, he retired the first five batters (Erik Epifano, Stefano De Simoni, Juan Carlos Infante, Gabriele Ermini and Joe Mazzuca). Alex Sambucci walked and Mario Chiarini doubled but Sahlin retired Marco Sabbatani to avoid any harm. His only hit (in 10 AB) came off Matija Grofelnik. He had a 3.60 ERA in two games, the best of any Swedish hurler to work more than one inning.

In 2015, he hit .281/.323/.343 for Leksand and was 2-1 with a 2.38 ERA. He did not pitch enough to qualify for the leaderboards. He improved to .321/.412/.369 in 2016 and had a 1-1, 3.13 record while Leksand won the title. He was 4th in ERA (between Elvis Hammarstedt and Max Hill) and was 5th in opponent average (.218, again between Hammarstedt and Hill).

Back with Sweden for the 2016 European Championship, he was Sweden's ace. He beat Russia and former minor leaguer Andrey Lobanov with one unearned run in seven innings despite six walks and five hits; Bryan Berglund closed it out. He also lost to France. He was 1 for 7 with a walk, run and a RBI, his hit coming off Phil Owen. He tied Per Sjörs for the team led in wins, led in ERA (.69 ahead of Bo-William Gilligan) and led in whiffs (10, 4 more than Sjörs). He was 10th in the Euros in IP (10 2/3).

Sahlin batted .296/.376/.407 for the '17 Lumberjacks while going 3-2 with a 3.44 ERA. He was 6th in opponent average (.213), 6th in ERA, 7th in K (45) and 5th in WHIP (1.19, between Moisses Pargas and Sjörs). In the 2017 Federations Cup, he was roughed up by the K. Deurne Spartans and beat the Buffaloes Blagoevgrad. He was 4 for 15 with 3 walks and 3 runs while posting a 15.00 ERA.

The next year, he batted .300/.398/.430 with 26 runs and 22 RBI, tying for 6th in the loop in RBI, while Leksand won the championship. He did not pitch much (9 R, 6 ER in 10 IP; no decisions). In '19, he moved to the Rättvik Butchers and hit .311/.384/.488 and was lit up (0-1, 9 R in 2 2/3 IP) on the hill.