José Arza

José Arza Laurenz

• Height 5' 9", Weight 154 lb.

• Born July 23, 1969 in Pamplona, Navarre Spain

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

José Arza played for the Spanish national team for a decade. His brother Joaquín Arza also appeared for the team.

Arza hit .250/.364/.393 in the 1991 Intercontinental Cup at age 21 while fielding .962 as Spain's main second baseman; he was 3-for-3 in steal attempts. He helped Spain to a Bronze in the 1991 European Championship. He was Spain's primary shortstop in the 1992 Olympics but went just 1 for 14 at the plate while fielding .857 with 3 errors in five games.

In the 1993 European Championship, he hit .152/.200/.183 while fielding .947 at short. For the tournament, only Rickard Reimer had a better fielding percentage at SS. José hit .389/.463/.583 with 10 runs in 9 games as Spain's top hitter in the 1995 European Championship. He tied David Meurant, Dmitry Lukin and Sylvain Hervieux for the Euros lead that year with four doubles. He also tied for 10th in total bases (21) and tied Antonio Salazar for 8th in hits (14).

Arza played well in the 1997 European Championship to help Spain win a Bronze Medal. He hit .467 and slugged .733. He ranked among the leaders in RBI (10, tied with three Czech batters for second behind Raymond Hofer). In the 1997 Intercontinental Cup, the Pamplona native produced at a .261/.292/.348 rate while fielding .929, his primary position.

In the 1998 Baseball World Cup, Arza led the Spanish attack by hitting .348/.423/.739 with 6 RBI in six games; he had both of their home runs. Defensively, he did not fare well, fielding .700 at the hot corner.

Arza batted .222/.318/.389 in the 1999 European Championship as a 2B-DH. In the 2001 European Championship, he hit .375/.412/.469 and fielded .966.