Jakub Malík

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Jakub Malik

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 1", Weight 220 lb.

Biographical Information[edit]

Jakub Malik has been a top Czech outfielder in the early 21st Century. He has led the Extraliga in hits (five times), total bases (twice), slugging (twice), OPS (twice) and RBI and also spent three years in the Hoofdklasse.

In 2003, the teenager hit .329/.387/.600 with 5 HR and 30 RBI in 23 games and had a 5.19 ERA on the mound. The teenager was second in the Extraliga in home runs, led in RBI and tied for 4th in slugging. He was 0 for 6 with a walk in the 2003 European Olympic Qualification Tournament. He was on the Czech roster in the 2003 European Championship but did not play.

Malik batted .318/.357/.449 in the 2004 Extraliga and was 0-1 with a 6.89 ERA on the hill. He was 10th in hits (34), tied for 8th in total bases (48), tied for 8th in RBI (19) and tied for fifth in runs (25). In 2005, he hit .444/.506/.711 with 32 RBI and 40 runs in 35 games. He led the league in hits (63, 10 more than the runner-up), was second in average, was second in home runs (4), led in total bases (101, 21 more than the runner-up), led in slugging (86 points ahead of the runner-up), was 4th in OBP, led in OPS and was 5th in RBI (32). He was 0 for 4 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch in the 2005 European Championship. In the 2005 Baseball World Cup, the first Baseball World Cup in which the Czech team played, Malik hit .111/.200/.111.

Malik had an off-year in 2006, hitting .284/.357/.363 only for his Arrows Ostrava club. Malik bounced back in 2007 with a batting line of .422/.488/.642. He led the league with 46 hits, was second in average once again (.032 behind Tomáš Svoboda), led in total bases (70), led in slugging, was 4th in OBP, led in OPS, second in RBI (30) and second in runs (28). In the 2007 European Championship, Jakub batted .118/.211/.176 while playing all three outfield slots for the Czech national squad.

Malik signed with the MediaMonks RCH in the Netherlands for 2008. He homered in his second game but was at just .222/.323/.333 after 8 contests. He finished much better at .318/.368/.452, fielding .963 as their regular in CF. He tied Quensley Bazoer for 5th in the 2008 Hoofdklasse in steals (10), was 4th in doubles (12), tied for second in triples (3, one behind Shaldimar Daantji), tied Maikel Benner for 5th in hits (50) and was 5th in total bases (71). He missed the top 10 in slugging by .002. He played for the Czech national team in the 2008 European Championship Qualifiers and batted .313/.313/.500 to help them advance to the 2010 European Championship.

In the 2008 World University Championship, Malik hit .308/.296/.395 to lead the host Czechs in average and slugging and tying for the RBI lead (4). Back with RCH in 2009, he hit .324/.388/.360 and made the unusual move from CF to DH. He moved to the Vaessen Pioniers in 2010 but hit only .248/.305/.343 to end his time in the Netherlands. He hit .333/.368/.389 in the 2010 European Championship. In the 2010 Intercontinental Cup, he was the starting right fielder and #3 hitter for the Czech squad, producing at a .316/.435/.368 clip. He tied Matěj Hejma for the team lead in OBP.

Back in the Extraliga for 2011, he hit .400/.483/.701 for his hometown Ostrava club, with 35 RBI and 30 runs in 34 games. He tied Matthew Lawman for 6th in hits (50), was 6th in OBP (between Jiří Marek and Alex Derhak), ranked 4th in slugging (between Martin Schneider and Erhak), was 4th in RBI (between Lawman and Pavel Budský) and ranked 9th in runs. He also fielded .988. He was 2 for 9 with four runs and four RBI in the postseason.

In 2012, he produced at a .443/.497/.679 clip with 30 runs in 34 games, fielding .989 with four assists to one error. He lost the batting title by .002 to Wayne Ough of Australia. He tied Martin Drong and Lawman for the hit lead, tied Ough and Aleš Navrátil for 7th in RBI (29), was third in total bases (89, behind Lawman and Marek), placed 8th in slugging (between Schneider and Hejma) and was 10th in OBP. He now had two of the top 10 single-season hit totals in Extraliga annals; the only other player to do so was Budský. He won the league's Best Hitter award. He hit .371/.395/.600 with 9 RBI in 8 games in the 2012 European Championship, driving in two in a 3-2 upset of the Dutch national team and driving in 3 against Belgium. He led the team in RBI, one ahead of Hejma, tied Hejma for the most hits and was second to Hejma in OPS.

Malík was 3 for 8 for the Czechs in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers as the team's second-best hitter after former major leaguer and import Mike Cervenak; he thus was their top Czech-born and -raised hitter. He drove in one run, singling off Jacob Esch to score Cervenak. In the 2013 Extraliga, he put up similar numbers to 2012 - .430/.493/.664, with 33 runs and 31 RBI in 33 games. He had 91 chances in the outfield and made no errors. He was second in the league in average (.044 behind Petr Baroch), tied for sixth in homers (with Jakub Sládek, Schneider and Tom Ward), was second in total bases (85, 26 behind Marek), was second in slugging (.076 behind Marek), ranked 4th in OBP (between Schneider and Sládek), was 7th in RBI and tied Derhak and Hejma for 8th in runs. He hit .267/.389/.333 in the postseason. He moved into the Extraliga top 10 for career hits (420, 9th) and RBI (265, 8th) despite having missed three years while playing in the Netherlands.

Malík's batting line in 2014 was .395/.442/.612 and he had 37 RBI and 41 runs in 35 games. He again played flawless outfield defense (83 PO, 3 A, 0 E). He led the league in hits for the fifth time, this time 8 ahead of anyone else; it was his third time in the single-season top 10 in league annals, something no one else had done to that point. Amazingly, despite his five hit titles and two OPS titles, he had never led in average. He again was second, trailing Derhak. He also was 3rd in total bases (90, behind Sládek and Hejma), tied for 6th in home runs (5), 3rd in RBI (behind Sládek and Hejma), 4th in slugging and tied Daniel Mráz for 3rd in runs. He was 7 for 14 with a double, homer and four runs in three postseason games, with 10 putouts, an assist and no errors for the best postseason average. At year's end, he was 6th in Extraliga history in hits (478, between Michal Břeň and Michal Kočí) and 7th in RBI (302, between Martin Veselý and Ivo Kučera); those stats are for the period 1995-2014. The league home run records go back to 1993 and Malík ranked 10th from 1993-2014 with 49 dingers. In the 2014 European Championship, he batted .276/.344/.621 with 6 RBI in 8 games.

Turning 31 in 2015, he was limited to 22 games but still hit .357/.439/.774 with 9 HR and 26 RBI. He was 4th in slugging (between Sládek and Corey Lyon) and fifth in home runs. He made his first error in three years, still fielding .983. He batted .417/.481/.625 with 7 runs and 5 RBI in six postseason games. The veteran kept on rolling in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in March 2016. Starting in right field, he was 3 for 10 with four walks, a double, home run, four runs and six RBI in three games. His 3-run dinger off Berman Espinosa started the scoring against the Nicaraguan national team in a game that the Czechs only lost in extra innings, 7-6, in the semifinals. For the Mexicali pool, he tied for first in runs (with Adrian Gonzalez, Hejma and Donald Lutz), tied Martin Červenka and Agustín Murillo for the most RBI, was 4th in OBP, 4th in slugging, 4th in OPS (behind Bruce Maxwell, Carlos Ruiz and Javy Guerra) and led in runs produced (two ahead of Murillo).

Sources[edit]

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