Jakub Sládek

Jakub Sládek

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

• High School Gymnazium Nad Stolou

• Born February 17, 1990 in Prague Czechoslovakia

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jakub Sládek has been a member of the Czech national team and played in the minor leagues.

A member of the Czech junior national team, Sladek hit .200/.267/.273 for the Tegola Titans in Extraliga play in 2007. He signed that year with the Philadelphia Phillies. He began 2008 with the Regensburg Legionäre in Bundesliga, backing up Alexander Lauterbach at first base, going just 1 for 7 with a walk and not appearing again. Playing for the Czechs in the 2008 World Junior Championship, Jakub was just 4 for 23 with 2 walks and 11 strikeouts, but showed good power as his hits were a single, two doubles and a home run for a .391 slugging percentage.

Sládek made his pro debut with the 2009 GCL Phillies, going 1 for 2 on June 23 against the GCL Blue Jays. For the season, he went 3 for 16 with 3 walks and 8 strikeouts. That would be his only experience in the minors. In the 2009 Baseball World Cup, he made his debut for the Czech national team, going 0 for 3 with two strikeouts. In 2010, he hit .275/.383/.461 for Kotlářka Praha. He tied for third in the Extraliga with four home runs (one shy of Martin Střítecký and Martin Schneider).

In the 2010 European Championship, Jakub hit .267/.313/.400 as the main Czech DH; he also backed up veteran Pavel Budský at 1B. He had three of his four hits in a rout of Belgium, getting 3 doubles, 2 runs, a walk and 3 RBI that day. He had the same role in the 2010 Intercontinental Cup, batting .333/.350/.333; his four RBI tied Budský for the team lead and he was third in average behind Budský and Matěj Hejma, two fellow former minor leaguers.

Sládek saw limited action (presumably due to injury) with the 2011 Praha club, hitting .326/.446/.543 with 13 runs in 15 games. In '12, he was 6 for 12 with two doubles, a homer and five walks in his brief Extraliga action. He spent most of the year in Japan's independent Baseball Challenge League, with the Ishikawa Million Stars. He was back with the Czech squad for the 2012 European Championship, hitting .267 again (this time with a .353 OBP and .400 SLG). He came up big in the 5th/6th place contest. With the Czechs down 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th, he pinch-hit for Michal Ondráček and doubled off ex-Mariners farmhand Christian Staehely to score Petr Čech with the tying run; the Czechs won, 3-2. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, Jakub batted 6th and was DH in both games for the Czech Republic. He struck out against Germany's Mike Bolsenbroek his first time up, then walked and came around to score. In the other game, he was retired twice (once by whiff) by Britain's Jake Esch before Budský pinch-hit for him.

In the 2013 Extraliga, he hit .333/.483/.636 with 29 walks and 29 RBI in 31 games, fielding .996. He tied Jakub Malik, Schneider and Tom Ward for 4th in the league with six homers, tied Jakub Hajtmar and Přemek Chroust for the most walks (29), was 5th in OBP (between Malik and Daniel Mráz), tied Ondráček for 8th in RBI and was 10th in slugging. He hit .318/.483/.636 in the postseason, which he led in walks (7) and chances without an error (63).

During 2014, he batted .385/.509/.869 with 34 runs, 51 RBI and 17 homers in 36 games. He led the Extraliga in home runs (8 ahead of Hejma), total bases (113, 20 more than Hejma), slugging (.148 better than Hejma), walks (33, 3 ahead of Jan Pojer) and RBI (12 more than Hejma). He tied Martin Drong and Corey Lyon for second in hits (50), was 3rd in OBP (behind Alex Derhak and Karel Hrušovský), was 4th in average and tied Pojer and Čech for 7th in runs. In the postseason, he was at .323/.447/.581 and tied for first with 11 RBI while adding two more homers. For the period 1995-2014, his 17-homer season tied Jiří Marek for second-best in Extraliga annals, 3 behind Jiří Víšek's 20 in 2000. The 51 RBI ranked 10th for the same time period (Czech records prior to 1995 are limited).

In the 2014 European Cup, he batted .316/.350/.684 with 6 RBI in five games, going deep off Valerio Simone for an early lead against T&A San Marino (Prague lost) and off Quentin Becquey of the Rouen Huskies. He tied Jairo Ramos Gizzi for the event lead in home runs, tied Mattia Reginato and Mark-Jan Moorman for 3rd in RBI, tied Danny Rombley for 2nd in total bases (13) and was second to Ramos in slugging. He also starred in the 2014 European Championship, producing at a .517/.563/1.103 clip with 9 runs, 13 RBI and 5 long balls in 8 games to lead the Czech team in homers (2 over Hejma) and RBI (4 over Hejma) while trailing Hejma by one for the run lead. He had 3-hit games against Russiaand Greece, drove in four versus Croatia and tormented France (4 H, 2 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI). For the event, he was second in average (.026 behind Oscar Angulo), second in slugging (.055 behind former big leaguer Alex Liddi), tied Stefano De Simoni for 4th in OBP, 2nd to Angulo in hits, tied Liddi and Angulo for 5th in RBI, tied Gianison Boekhoudt for the home run lead and was second with 32 total bases (3 behind Angulo).

He was the only Czech position player on the Team Europe that played the Japanese All-Stars on a visit to that nation in early 2015, but did not get into either game. He hit .353/.455/.790 in 2015, defending his home run crown (13, one ahead of Hejma and Lyon). He was 3rd with 94 total bases (behind Lyon and Daniel Vavruša), 3rd in slugging (behind Mitch Nilsson and Hejma), tied Hejma for second in RBI (41 in 32 G), tied Scott Mulhearn for 5th in walks (23) and tied Mráz for the lead with 44 runs. He fell to .200/.306/.400 in the postseason but with 8 runs and 7 RBI in 8 games as Kotlářka Praha won its first title. He had 53 career Extraliga homers by season's end, tying Marek Rejman for 10th in league annals (Extraliga homer records going back to 1993). He was the youngest player in the Czech Home Run Club (players with 50+ HR). He was 1 for 9 with a walk and a double in the 2015 Universiade.

Sládek was the Czech DH and cleanup man in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in February 2016. He was 0 for 6 with four walks and three runs. In the Mexico qualifier, he was second in walks, two behind Adrian Gonzalez. He hit .231/.375/.308 in the 2016 European Champions Cup.