Linus Ritzén

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born July 19, 2005

Biographical Information

Linus Ritzén has played in the Elitserien and for the Swedish national team.

He made his Elitserien pitching debut in 2022, going 0-9 with a 15.20 ERA between the Sölvesborg Firehawks and Akademin. He led the league in losses. In '23, he had a 2-4, 8.87 record for the Karlskoga Bats. He still made Sweden's team for the 2023 European Championship; the 18-year-old was their youngest player, about a month younger than Victor Wahlberg. He made three appearances. The first one came against title-bound Spain. Relieving Ben Johnson with a 5-2 deficit in the third, he walked tourney MVP Wander Encarnación then struck out Gabriel Lino before Edgar Rondón homered. He retired former major leaguer Engel Beltré and Royals farmhand Omar Hernández to end the inning. The 4th was not as good as he allowed five of six to reach (striking out Edison Valerio) before giving way to Dean Olsson. He wound up with 7 runs in 1 1/3 IP (all earned). He followed with a scoreless frame against Israel but yielded five runs in 1/3 IP to France. He tied Paul Ogg and Justin Olic for 4th in runs allowed in the event and also tied them for 4th in ER.