Maurice Bendrien

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 172 lb.

• Born April 29, 1999

Biographical Information

Maurice Bendrien has caught in the Bundesliga and for the German national team.

Bendrien hit .429/.556/.464 with 9 runs in 9 games as a top player for Germany in the 2014 U-15 Baseball World Cup. He played in the Bundesliga-1 in 2015, going 5 for 20 with 4 walks, 3 runs and 3 RBI for the Paderborn Untouchables, backing up Björn Schonlau at catcher. He was 2 for 7 with two walks and a RBI in the 2015 European Junior Championship.

In the 2016 Bundesliga, he became the starting backstop for Paderborn, Schonlau moving to 1B. He hit .328/.500/.344 with 19 walks in 23 games, catching 28.6% of would-be base-stealers and fielding .985. He was second in the Bundesliga-1 north in walks, 3rd in OBP (behind Daniel Sánchez and Daniel Lamb-Hunt), led in passed balls (13) but was 3rd in caught stealing percentage (behind Julian Steinberg and Przemyslaw Paluch). He batted .278/.409/.333 with four runs in five games in the 2016 European Junior Championship and threw out four of nine on the basepaths. Only Leo Bäckström gunned down more.

Maurice fell to .243/.382/.300 for Paderborn in 2017 but caught 47.8% of base thieves. He tied Marco Cardoso for third in triples (3), was 4th in fielding at C (.986), cut his passed balls to four, led in runners caught stealing (11, one ahead of Caleb Fenimore) and led regulars in caught stealing percentage (.087 ahead of Conner Brown). He was 1 for 5 with a HBP and two runs in the 2017 European U-23 Championship, backing up Elias von Garßen.

Still a teenager, he posted a .316/.398/.347 batting line in 2018, fielding .992 and throwing out 35.5%. His 10.2% K rate was second-lowest in the league; he was also second in caught stealing % (.5% behind Fenimore) and was second in catcher fielding percentage (behind Jon Marshall). In the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week, he backed up Vincent Ahrens; he hit into a force against Yu-Hsiang Lin his lone plate appearance.

Bendrien hit .304/.411/.380 with 26 runs in 27 games in 2019, fielding .996 and catching 40% (as of 11/26/2020, the Bundesliga league leaders for '19 have been unavailable online for about a year). He was 3 for 7 with a walk, two runs and two RBI in the 2019 European U-23 Championship, now splitting time more evenly with von Garßen. He made Germany's team for the 2019 European Championship. He debuted as a late replacement for veteran Simon Gühring in a 9-1 romp of Sweden, getting hit by Mikael Fasth his trip to the plate. Replacing Gühring in a 8-1 loss to the champion the Netherlands, he was retired by Lars Huijer and struck out against Kevin Kelly. He got to make a start against the Czech national team; he had 8 putouts and allowed 3 steals. He was 0 for 1 with a walk and against former Oriole farmhand Jan Novák. In the 6th, he singled off Petr Minařík to score Cardoso. In the 8th, he struck out against Daniel Padyšák.

The 2020 season was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. He hit .229/.500/.286 with 14 walks in 14 games, made no errors and caught 4 of 7 on the bases. He was 4th in the league in walks, tied for second in times plunked (5) and was presumably among the defensive leaders.