Jonah Schaller

Jonah Sebastian Schaller

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 220 lb.

• School Hope College, Ventura College
• High School College de Gambach

• Born May 5, 2000 in Düdingen, Fribourg Switzerland

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Jonah Schaller has pitched for the Swiss national team.

In the 2017 European Junior Championship, he beat Poland and was 1-0 with a 7.45 ERA and 11 K in 9 2/3 IP. He tied for 2nd in K. He was excellent in the 2022 European Championship Qualifier, going four hitless innings (10 K) to beat Romania and Edy Pirvu in the opener. In the finale, against previously unbeaten Lithuania, he came up huge, allowing one run on four hits and four walks while whiffing 11 in 7 innings to outduel Marius Balandis in a 3-1 win; Ryan Byrne saved it. While the tourney MVP went to Lithuania's Vytas Valincius, Schaller had pitched Switzerland to qualify for the 2023 European Championship, their first European Championship. In the three qualifiers held that year, he tied Jakub Ižold and Sean Fekete for the most wins, was 5th in IP (between Lars Liguori and Sava Dupor), was 4th in K (between Liguori and Evgenii Chernozemsky) and was second to Gytas Morkunas in ERA.

He was 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA for Hope College in 2023. In the 2023 Confederation Cup, he went 0-2 for the Therwil Flyers, losing to the champion Marlins Puerto Cruz and Carlos García of Olimpija Karlovac. He tied Bebee Brayden for the loss lead, tied for 6th in IP (8), was second with 12 runs allowed, tied for 2nd in earned runs (10) and led in walks (13). In Switzerland's European Championship debut, they faced defending Silver Medalist Israel to begin the 2023 Euros. Schaller got the historic start against Itai Spinoza. He started on a rough note when Ben Rosengard singled and Ty Kelly walked. He struck out MLB vet Ryan Lavarnway but Brett Holtz hit a two-run double. He escaped the inning by retiring Assaf Lowengart and striking out Zev Moore. He hit or walked four of the first five batters in the second then Hideori Oshima relieved; Schaller was charged with 6 runs in 1 1/3 IP in the loss. He was a bright spot in their 15-5 loss to Germany. Relieving Fabio Bundi in the 3rd with a 5-3 deficit, he struck out David Grimes, David Dinski and Alex Schmidt with only a walk to Nino Sacasa prevented a perfect frame. Andrea Girsole then succeeded him. He then got another tough start against Italy, the second-most-successful team in European Championship history. He allowed a hit, three walks, two hit batsmen and three runs in 2/3 of an inning, a bright spot being a strikeout of Sebastiano Poma. Bundi then relieved. He tied for the event lead in losses, tied for 7th in games pitched, tied for first in starts, tied for 7th in walks and tied Cedric De Smedt and Ádám Piros for second with four bitsmen). Only James Sanders struck out more batters for Switzerland.