Martin Lukačka

Martin Lukačka

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 211 lb.

• School Czech Technical University, Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave
• High School Gymnázium Federica Garcíu Lorcu

• Born October 4, 1986 in Bratislava Czechoslovakia

Biographical Information

Martin Lukačka has played in the Extraliga and for the Slovakian national team.

He closed out a 10-7 loss to Belgium in the 2011 European Championship Qualifier, relieving Michal Ešmír with one on in the 9th. He allowed a single to Kevin Roevens then Dennis Ribbens hit into a run-scoring error. Following a double steal, Randy Giorgiadis hits a sacrifice fly but Martin recovered to retire Steven De Lannoy and Hans Heyrman. His other game in the event, he started in right versus Austria and went 0 for 2 against Walter Strasser. He came to the Extraliga in 2013, with the Tempo Titans Praha. He hit .349/.466/.410 and was 1-7 with a 7.88 ERA. He was 9th in the league in OBP, between former Reds farmhand Matěj Hejma and Martin Veselý. He also tied for 4th in losses.

In the 2013 B-Level European Championship, he was 1 for 11 with 5 walks, a steal, a run and three RBI while allowing three runs (two earned) in two innings. His hit came off Russia's Kiril Chermoshentsev. He tied Jan Jablonka, Fabian Hirnschal, Kestas Vilimas, Nikita Monakhov and Victor Samchuk for second in the event in walks, one behind teammate Martin Brunegraf. He produced at a .243/.371/.369 clip for the '14 Titans while going 1-7 with a 7.24 ERA. He tied Jiří Šimek for second in losses. In 2015, he did not pitch and his batting line fell to .228/.328/.376 for Praha.

Representing Slovakia again in the 2015 B-Level European Championship, he improved to .316/.480/.316, tying for second among Slovakia's starters in OBP, and handling nine putouts error-free. He saved his best for last, rapping three hits off Croatia's Slobodan Gales in the title game, but Slovakia fell, 6-4. He was second in walks, two behind Martin Andonov. He batted .214/.344/.252 for the 2016 Titans and did not pitch. In '17, he batted .149/.241/.176 and was 0-1 with a 7.63 ERA.

Lukačka was very good at the 2017 B-Level European Championship. He homered off Ukraine's Serhii Shtapura in the opener, then had three hits against Lithuania. He homered twice and drove in five against Belarus. In the fourth game, he got the win over Poland and former Yankees farmhand Artur Strzalka. His last game, he singled off Russia's Maksim Makarkin to finish at .318/.318/727 with three homers and eight RBI in five games while allowing no runs in three innings. He led Slovakia in slugging, homers and RBI. He was 6th overall in the event in slugging, tied for 6th with 7 hits, was second in RBI (one behind Denis Leonov), tied for the most homers (with Edvardas Matusevičius, Leonov and Dominick Golubiewski) and was 4th in total bases (between Golubiewski and Monakhov).

Martin was 0 for 6 for Praha in 2018 but walked four times and was hit once for a .455 OBP; he had one run and one RBI. He was 0-6 with a save and a 4.31 ERA, his best yet in the Extraliga. He tied for ninth in losses. He did not pitch in the 2019 B-Level European Championship but remained a key hitter for Slovakia at .267/.522/.467 with 7 walks and 7 runs in 5 games. He tied for seventh in runs and tied Roman Boiko, Audrius Beliauskas and Arūnas Dankovskis for second in walks, one behind Ievgenii Poliakov. Playing for SaBaT Praha in 2020, he was 0-2 with a 5.72 ERA as one of the better pitchers on a 2-16 team. He led the staff in ERA while only Jiří Vavruša worked more innings in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 2021 European Championship Qualifier, the veteran was 2 for 6 with a double, four walks and four runs; he had three runs in the finale against Ireland as Slovakia won a spot in the European Championship for the first time. He was Slovakia's first cleanup hitter in a European Championship game, striking out against the Dutch national team's Lars Huijer (a former Mariners farmhand) his first at-bat. His lone hit of the event came off Shtapura as he went 1-for-13 with 3 walks, one time hit, two runs and one RBI. He handled six chances error-free. He also pitched twice, but had a rough time. Against Ukraine, he relieved Markus Racík in the 9th with a 4-4 tie and allowed a triple to Kostiantyn Chukhas then walked Denys Brechko and intentionally walked Heorhii Hvrytishvili and walked Ihor Lukin to force in a run and take the loss, having retired none. His other hill appearance was in the 15th/16th place game against France. After scoring the tying run in the bottom of the 10th, he replaced Racík in the 11th with a 5-5 tie. Léo Jiminian had a bunt single to load the bases (two runners started aboard due to the Schiller Rule). Félix Brown hit into a run-scoring error. He recovered to get a double-play grounder from former A's minor leaguer Andy Paz and struck out Luis Delogu but wound up with the error-aided loss. He tied Spencer Kreisberg, Marek Minařík and Jakob Syrén for the event lead in losses, though three of his teammates had higher ERAs.

Away from baseball, he has been an architect and 3-D designer. He worked for LEGO before starting his own company.

Related Sites

• His company's website