Illia Velykyi

Illia Velykyi also transliterated as Velikii, Velikyi

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born January 19, 1994

Biographical Information

Illia Velykyi has played for the Ukrainian national team.

He hit .190/.261/.286 in the 2014 European Championship U21. In the 2015 European Cup, he batted .056/.143/.111 for KTNU Elizavetgrad; only teammate Ruslan Deikun was lower among the qualifier (0 for 13). His hit came off Radim Chroust of Draci Brno. In the 2016 CEB Cup, he batted .133/.278/.133 for Elizavetgrad.

Velykyi was superb in the 2017 CEB Cup, going 9 for 14 (.643) for Biotechkomanda Elizavetgrad with two doubles, a run and a RBI in four games. He led in average (.028 ahead of Arnošt Dubový), was 7th in slugging (between Slobodan Gales and Petr Čech), ranked third in OBP and tied Čech for the hit lead. With Ukraine for the 2017 B-Level European Championship, the 23-year-old hit .158/.200/.158. He was 4 for 12 with 3 walks, two runs and a RBI in the 2017 European Championship U23.

Illia hit .273/.333/.409 with seven runs in five games in the 2018 CEB Cup. He tied Drew Janssen and Alexander Perdomo for 6th in runs. In the 2019 CEB Cup, he had a three-hit game against the Montigny Cougars. He only had one hit in the other three games, producing at a .235/.235/.294 clip with 3 runs and 3 RBI overall. He had three RBI in a Ukrainian win over Finland at the 2019 B-Level European Championship; for that tournament, he hit .286/.304/.333 with seven RBI in five games while handling 23 putouts error-free. He tied Tomáš Biskorovajny, José Mesa and Matthew Kozlak for 5th in RBI.

He was Ukraine's main catcher in the 2021 European Championship Qualifier. He was 3 for 10 with two homers, three walks, five runs and five RBI in four games including three RBI in their championship game win over Serbia as they won a spot in the 2021 European Championship. He led his pool in home runs. His first European Championship game was versus Spain; he hit cleanup and played catcher for the Ukraine. He grounded out against a double play facing Carlos Sierra in the first then struck out against Leslie Nacar in a mercy rule-shortened game. His first hit was off Croatia's Andrew Jones to drive in Denys Brechko. He finished the 2021 Euros at .267/.313/.267 with two runs and two RBI in five games, fielding .955 and allowing two steals while not throwing out anyone.