Martin Střítecký

Martin Střítecký

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 185 lb.

• Born February 13, 1978 in Brno Czechoslovakia

Biographical Information

Martin Střítecký has played in the Czech Extraliga, winning at least two home run titles.

In 1999, Střítecký hit .368/.419/.588 for Technika Brno. He was even better in 2000, when he batted .433/.517/.722 with 10 homers, 39 runs and 44 RBI in 33 games. He tied Martin Veselý for third in the Extraliga in home runs, was 4th in total bases (98), tied for 4th in hits (55), was 7th in slugging, 3rd in RBI, 9th in OBP and tied for 9th in runs.

Martin fell to .300/.361/.585 with 39 runs and 38 RBI in 31 games for Technika Brno in 2001. He was among the leaders in homers (10, tied for 5th), total bases (76, 8th), RBI (tied for 4th) and runs (tied for 9th with Michal Břeň). He hit .308/.357/.385 in the 2001 European Championship.

Střítecký produced at a .272/.396/.579 rate with 37 RBI and 34 runs in 32 games in 2002. His nine homers were second in the league behind former Expos farmhand Pavel Budský. He was also among the leaders in total bases (66, 5th), slugging (7th), RBI (2nd to Budský) and runs (3rd). He hit .294/.368/.412 as the Czech Republic's catcher in the 2002 World University Championship and threw out 3 runners in 8 tries. He easily led a weak Czech offense.

Střítecký hit .283/.409/.381 in 2003 with only 2 homers, a massive drop-off in power after 29 in his prior three seasons. He did tie for third in the loop with 22 walks and was 7th with 28 runs. He was 5 for 14 with three walks in the 2003 European Championship.

Martin slumped further in 2004, only hitting .239/.313/.372; the lone positive was a .996 fielding percentage, third in all of the Extraliga (regardless of position). In '05, Střítecký found his form again; he produced at a .375/.481/.625 rate with 8 homers, 30 runs and 48 RBI in 35 games. He also tried his hand at pitching, going 0-5 with a 2.78 ERA. He finished among the league leaders in homers (first, double runner-up Jakub Malik's 4), total bases (80, second to Malik), hits (48, 3rd behind Malik and Veselý), average (9th), RBI (1st, 7 ahead of Budský), slugging (2nd to Malik), walks (26, 7th) and OBP (9th).

Střítecký batted hit .231/.394/.269 as the Czech DH in the 2005 European Championship. In the 2005 Baseball World Cup, he was 0 for 14 with 2 walks as the main Czech DH. He caught one game and allowed four steals in four tries.

In 2006, Martin hit 4 homers (second to Budský), had 59 total bases (4th in the league), slugged .536 (6th), drew 19 walks (6th), had a .444 OBP (7th) and drove in 24 (tied for 3rd with future Twins farmhand Jakub Hajtmar). The next season, Střítecký tied for the homer lead (4), was 6th in total bases (46), was 8th in slugging (.489), was third in walks (24, behind Jan Jablonka and Veselý), was 8th in OBP (.455), tied for 3rd in RBI (21), tied for 5th in runs (25) and was second in fielding regardless of position (.996, behind Michal Kočí).

He went 0 for 5 in the 2007 European Championship, backing up fellow veteran Aleš Navrátil at DH. He hit .308/.384/.546 for Technika Brno with 28 runs and 34 RBI in 33 contests in 2008. He was among the Extraliga's leaders in slugging (3rd behind Budský and an American import), hits (40, tied for 9th with Tomáš Polanský), total bases (71, 3rd), homers (2nd to Budský), runs (tied for 4th) and RBI (2nd to Budský).

In 2009, Střítecký hit .346/.444/.667 with 13 home runs, 41 runs and a whopping 68 RBI in 40 games. He was second in slugging behind Wayne Ough (a former minor league pitcher from Australia), was 7th in hits (53), tied for 7th in doubles (10), led in home runs (6 ahead of runner-up Eduard Mráz), led in total bases (102, 11 ahead of Budský), was third in runs (41) and led in RBI (21 over Budský). Surprisingly, he was not put on the Czech roster for the 2009 Baseball World Cup.

Sources

• Baseball.cz
• Defunct IBAF site
• Sportovci.cz