Marek Chlup

Marek Chlup

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 234 lb.
• School North Carolina State University, North Greenville University
• High School Gymnasium Dr. Antona Randy

• Born January 9, 1999 in Český Dub, Liberec Czech Republic

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Marek Chlup has played in the Extraliga, independent leagues and Japan for the Czech national team. He is the son of Vladimir Chlup, who has been a manager and coach in the Extraliga.

He debuted in the Extraliga in 2014, going 0 for 4 with a hit-by-pitch for the Arrows Ostrava. In the 2014 U-15 Baseball World Cup, he batted .406/.487/.531 with 12 runs and 8 RBI in 9 games. He tied for 8th in the event in runs. He hit .316/.395/.395 as a solid back-up for the Arrows at age 16. He hit .435/.519/.739 with four doubles, 8 runs, 14 RBI and 4 steals in 4 tries in 6 games in the 2015 European Junior Championship. He tied Martin Červinka for the team lead in average, led in slugging and RBI and was second to Červinka in OBP. He was among the tourney leaders in average (tied for 7th), slugging (6th, between Antonio Horvatić and Fred Walter), OBP (8th), RBI (1st; no one else had double-digits), doubles (tied for 1st), total bases (tied for 4th) and steals (tied for 4th). In the 2015 U-18 Baseball World Cup, he produced at a .310/.355/.448 with four doubles and six RBI in eight games. He tied Vojtěch Menšík for the team lead in hits, and led them in RBI.

In '16, he fell to .248/.377/.333 for the Eagles Praha, though he was 12-for-12 in steal attempts. He tied for 9th in the league in steals. In the 2016 European U-18 Championship, he batted .417/.481/.750 with 10 runs, 4 doubles and 4 steals (not caught) in 6 games. He tied Tijmen Takke for 3rd in the event in slugging, was second in runs (one behind Oliver van der Wijst), tied for 3rd in hits (10), tied Takke for 1st in doubles, tied for second in triples (two, one behind Richard Brereton), was second with 18 total bases (two behind Brereton) and tied for second in steals (one behind Aldrich De Jongh). In the 2016 U-23 Baseball World Cup, he hit .280/.387/.400 with six runs in eight games.

Chlup batted .254/.321/.324 for the 2017 Eagles. In the 2017 CEB Cup, he was 5 for 14 with 3 runs, 3 RBI and a homer (off Lorian Andro). He fell a triple shy of the cycle and scored three runs in a 10-9 loss to South Korea in the 2018 World University Championship; for the event, he had a batting line of .280/.357/.480 with 7 runs and 6 RBI in 6 games. He tied for 3rd in runs and tied for 6th in total bases (12, even with Yu-Chieh Kao, Denis Leonov and Menšík). He was 2 for 11 with two walks, two times hit by pitch, two runs and a RBI in the 2018 U-23 Baseball World Cup. In the Extraliga, he showed good progress at .321/.396/.634 with 13 doubles, 4 triples, 7 homers, 33 runs and 28 RBI in 34 games, stealing 10 bases in 12 tries. He tied Petr Čech for 5th in doubles, tied Filip Moštěk and Matěj Hejma for 4th in triples, was 7th in home runs, missed the top 10 in steals by one, ranked 4th in slugging (between Daniel Vavruša and Petr Zýma) and 7th in OPS (between Čech and Martin Mužík).

He was one of two Czech players for NC State in 2019, alongside Menšík. While Menšík was a regular and would be with the team for the College World Series two years later, Chlup was relegated to a bench role, batting .185/.324/.444; four of his five hits went for extra bases. In the 2019 U-23 European Championship, he hit .278/.316/.444 with four RBI in five games. In the Extraliga that year, he hit .275/.350/.406. His 2020 season at NC State was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic; he was 2-for-4 with a walk and a double in his limited time. Back with Praha, he hit .344/.487/.639 with ten homers and 36 RBI in 34 games, stealing 24 bases in 27 tries. He was 4th in the league in runs, 3rd in home runs (one behind Matěj Menšík and Mužík), tied Zýma for 8th in RBI, 2nd with 30 walks (16 behind Jakub Kubica), 1st in steals (7 ahead of Michal Ondráček), 3rd in slugging (after Matěj Menšík and Mužík), 3rd in OBP (behind Kubica and Zýma) and 4th in OPS (between Kubica and Jakub Voják).

Transferring to North Greenville University, he hit .323/.446/.627 with 12 homers, 45 runs, 47 RBI and 33 walks in 45 games, stealing eight bases in ten tries. He was 4th in Conference Carolinas in home runs and RBI, tied for 9th in runs and 3rd in walks. As he played in a summer collegiate league, he only saw a bit of action back in the Extraliga (13 for 30, 2B, 4 HR, 10 R, 12 RBI in 8 G). In the 2021 U-23 European Championship, he batted .365/.389/.563 with nine RBI in five games and five steals in five tries. He was second in the tournament in RBI (one behind Delano Selassa) and led in steals (one ahead of Mael Zan).

After years of representing the Czechs in age-based competition, he made the main national team for the 2021 European Championship. The 22-year-old debuted in the opener, starting in right field and hitting 7th. He showed he certainly belonged, not getting retired by Sweden. He got hit by a Jakob Syrén pitch his first time, then doubled his next time up (driven in by Jakub Hajtmar) and singled in the 6th. In the 8th, he doubled off Julius Hopkins to drive in Vojtěch Menšík and was driven in by Hejma to finish 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs and a RBI. He later hit a two-run homer off Slovakia's Martin Gieci. In a 3-2 loss to Israel, he took Joey Wagman deep and threw out Mitch Glasser at home. In the 5th/6th place game, he was 1 for 4 in a win over Great Britain as Czechia matched their best finish to that point in a European Championship. For the 2021 Euros, he had hit .524/.583/1.000 with four doubles, two dingers, six runs and six RBI in six games. He had 14 putouts and one assist while making no errors in RF or LF. He tied Sharlon Schoop for 3rd in hits (11), tied for second in doubles (one behind Aaron Singh), tied for 5th in home runs (trailing Hejma, Assaf Lowengart, Vito Friscia and Dashenko Ricardo), tied Lowengart for 3rd in total bases (21), 3rd in average (behind Edison Valerio and Friscia), 6th in OBP (between Glasser and Denys Brechko), 3rd in slugging (after Valerio and Friscia) and 3rd in OPS (after Valerio and Friscia and ahead of MLB veterans like Roger Bernadina, Ty Kelly and Engel Beltre).

His busy year continued at the 2021 U-23 Baseball World Cup. He hit a big three-run double off Saul Castellanos in a 5-1 win over defending champion Mexico in the opener and finished at .333/.481/.762 with eight RBI in eight games. In center field, he repeated his defensive stats from the 2021 Euros (14 PO, 1 A, 0 E). He tied for the event lead in triples (2), tied for 3rd in RBI, was second to Andrés Angulo in slugging and was second in OPS (44 behind Angulo). He did not make the All-World team as Jesus Marriaga was picked in center.

In 2022, he hit .390/.488/.662 with 69 runs and 75 RBI in 62 college games, going 30-for-33 in steal attempts. He won Conference Carolinas Player of the Year. He was also a NCAA Division II All-American. He was 3 for 15 with four walks and a double in the Extraliga that summer as well. In the 2023 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, he homered off Spain's Armando Dueñas Jr., had a three-hit game versus France and went yard off Spain again, this time off Ronald Medrano in a 3-1 win in the finale. That earned the Czech team a spot in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, their first World Baseball Classic. In the qualifiers, only Harry Ford hit more dingers.

Chlup again dominated the Conference Carolinas in 2023 - .344/.440/.678, 53 R, 52 RBI in 51 G, 20 steals without being caught. He was named All-Conference. In the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he hit .333/.471/.417 with three RBI in four games. Only Matěj Menšík had a better OPS for the team and only Mužík had more RBI. He had the first RBI by a Czech player in a WBC when he hit a sac fly off Fuyang Zhao in the first inning of their debut against China, driving in Vojtěch Menšík. After graduation from North Greenville, he signed with the Lake County Dockhounds of the American Association and produced at a .325/.393/.627 rate with 9 homers and 25 RBI in 34 games. He played briefly in the Extraliga and hit .293/.383/.488 in 11 games. He slipped to .130/.200/.217 in the 2023 European Championship, though he played solid outfield defense (10 PO, 1 A, 0 E). His 11 strikeouts tied Dmytro Limarenko for second in the event, one behind Noah Williamson.

He returned to Lake County for most of 2024 but slipped a bit, to .252/.351/.412 with 21 doubles and 23 steals in 29 tries. He had a brief stint with the Tempo Titans in the Czech Republic, hitting .409/.519/.773. In the fall of 2024, he signed with the Yomiuri Giants of NPB, becoming the first Czech native to sign with a NPB team. He did not appear for the team in an official game for the little bit of time left in the season, but did suit up in exhibitions for them.

Related Sites

• North Greenville bio