Jak Simonsen

Jakob Simonsen

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 170 lb.

• Born January 13, 1990

Biographical Information

Jak Simonsen has played for the Austrian national team.

Simonsen debuted in the Austrian Baseball League in 2006, going 0-2 with a 5.56 ERA for the Vienna Metrostars at age 16. In '07, he had a 2-2, 5.75 record and improved to 3-3, 4.11 with two saves in 2008. Still a teen, he dropped to 2-5, 5.96 in 2009. In 2010, he was 4-2 with a 5.87 ERA. The next year, he was 4-0 with a save and a 3.45 ERA. He also began to bat regularly, hitting .327/.404/.347.

Jak blossomed in 2012 at 9-2, 1.90 with only 12 walks in 71 innings, while also batting .346/.433/.423. He was 7th in the ABL in ERA, 3rd in wins and 4th in WHIP (0.92). He was 6-4 with a 2.77 ERA in 2013 and did not bat much. He was 3rd in ERA, tied Felix Zimmerle and Clemens Cichocki for 2nd in wins, 6th in IP (66) and 6th in WHIP. He was on Austria's team for the 2013 B-Level European Championship but did not get into a game.

In 2014, he had a 5-2, 2.44 record for Vienna and produced at a .323/.475/.387 rate. He was 7th in ERA, tied for 3rd in wins, 6th in WHIP (1.12) and 6th in IP (55 1/3). During 2015, he slipped to 1-0, 5.09 and only had 10 plate appearances. He hit .362/.493/.431 with 16 runs in 19 games in '16 and was 0-1 with two saves and a 6.06 ERA. He was among the league leaders in average (10th), OBP (6th, between Richard Alzinger and Hiro Sakanashi), OPS (9th), RBI (14, tied for 8th) and saves (tied Walter Strasser for 3rd).

The right-hander was at 1-0, 4.20 in 2017 and hit .192/.436/.231. He was 3-0 with a save and a 4.67 ERA in 2018 and went 9 for 18 on offense. In '19, the veteran was 1-1 with a 3.26 ERA and hit .238/.407/.333. He was 1-0 in the 2019 Federations Cup (beating the Therwil Flyers) but with a 10.80 ERA; he hit .357/.471/.500 and fielded .960.

Simonsen hit .256/.473/.256 in 2020 and was 4-2 with a save and a 3.13 ERA. He was 10th in ERA and tied for 4th in wins. In '21, he was 7-1 with a 4.19 ERA, tying for 3rd in the league in wins. He pitched for Austria in the 2021 European Championship. Relieving Mo Hackl with a 9-7 lead over Belgium in the 8th, one on and no outs, he got Dennis De Quint to fly out but Robin Roevens hit a game-tying homer. He hit Sam Boermans then Axel Poesmans tripled and Jamie Verheyleweghen singled to make it 11-9 Belgium. He retired Yves Poesmans and Zion De Brauwer. Nico Schadler took over in the 9th and Austria rallied to win, so Simonsen was not tagged with the loss. His other game, he closed out a loss to Russia, replacing Alessandro Zoufal in the bottom of the 7th with a 13-4 deficit, one on and one out. Yunior Valiente singled and went all the way to third on an error on the play. Simonsen struck out Yan Pérez then Viacheslav Vasilev hit a sacrifice fly to put the mercy rule into effect, ending the game.