Michal Břeň

Michal Břeň

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born November 16, 1976

Biographical Information

Michal Břeň has been a catcher in the Czech Republic's Extraliga.

He played for the Czech national team in the 1997 European Championship (he had helped them qualify for the event, their first European Championship, thanks to his play in the 1996 B-Level European Championship). went 2 for 11 with a double, three RBI and two runs in the 1999 European Championship but made four errors in four games as a utility man. He was 3 for 22 with a double and 5 walks in the 2003 European Championship. In the 2004 Extraliga season, he batted .465/.557/.586 for Draci Brno with 29 RBI in 29 games. He was among the league leaders in hits (46, 2nd), average (2nd), total bases (58, 4th), slugging (4th), walks (18, tied for 7th with Michal Kočí), OBP (2nd) and RBI (2nd to Pavel Budský).

Břeň hit .192/.267/.192 and played error-free defense as the Czech starting catcher in the 2005 European Championship. In the 2005 Baseball World Cup, Břeň was 1 for 14 with 6 strikeouts. He split catching duties with future Reds farmhand Petr Čech. He had 19 RBI in the 2006 Extraliga to finish 9th in the loop; he was 10th with 23 runs. In 2007, he hit .397 (3rd in the league) with 2 homers (tied for 4th), 40 total bases (10th), a .548 slugging percentage (3rd) and a .464 OBP (7th). During the 2007 European Championship, he was the third-oldest Czech player after Budský and Aleš Navrátil. He was 0 for 9 in the event, but with a team-high 5 walks. He again split catching duties with Čech.

In 2008, Michal moved to Draci Brno's rival, the MZLU Express Brno, but played just two games, going 1 for 4.