Michal Ondráček

Michal Ondráček

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.

• School Redlands Community College

• Born December 25, 1989 in Brno Czechoslovakia

Biographical Information

Michal Ondráček has played for the Czech national team, as has his brother Jakub Ondráček. Michal debuted in the Extraliga in 2007 at age 17, hitting .303/.357/.316 for MZLU Brno and stealing five bases in five tries. In 2008, he hit .250/.308/.333. He played for the Czech Republic in the 2008 European Championship Qualifiers, going 2 for 3 with three walks, 3 runs and 4 RBI.

He hit .293/.413/.354 in 2009 and stole 22 bases in 24 tries, scoring 29 runs in 29 games for Draci Brno as they won a title. He led the league in steals and tied Tomáš Polanský for 9th in runs. His steal total tied Petr Baroch for 5th best for the period starting in 1995 when the league began tracking steal totals to that point. He was 7 for 14 with a double, triple and six runs in five playoff games. In the 2009 Baseball World Cup, he was 1 for 3, with a single off Adam Bright for his lone hit as a part-time player.

Ondráček batted .409/.557/.588 in 2010, finishing among the leaders in average (6th, between Petr Síla and David Winkler), OBP (2nd, .036 behind Ryan Murphy), walks (20, tied for second with Martin Veselý), runs (24, 4th) and steals (17, 4th). He hit .308 in the postseason as Draci Brno won another title; his 4 steals tied for the playoff lead. In the 2010 European Cup, he hit .318/.375/.364 with 5 steals in 6 tries, 4 runs and 4 RBI in five games. He led the event in swipes, two ahead of Maxime Lefevre and Aaron Hornostaj. He came up big in two upset wins, with a two-run double off Fabio Betto in a 4-3 win over Fortitudo Bologna and four hits in a 14-10 win over the Konica Minolta Pioniers. In the 2010 European Championship, he was 5 for 12 with a double and a walk, with 3 hits against the Dutch national team and 3 runs against the British national team. He was the primary LF and leadoff man for the Czechs in the 2010 Intercontinental Cup, hitting .300/.333/.350 with a team-high five runs in six games; he scored 3 and drove in two against Hong Kong.

In 2011, he hit .368/.474/.513 with 25 runs in 25 regular-season games, stealing 11 bases in 11 tries. He tied for 7th in steals and missed the top 10 in OBP by .003. He was 3 for 10 with two doubles, two runs and three RBI in the postseason. In the 2011 European Cup, he hit .400, tying Joris Bert for 8th in average and tying Alex Derhak for 7th in OBP.

He batted .394/.483/.493 with 21 runs in 18 games in 2012, finishing 9th in average. He spent some of the year in the US, playing for Redlands Community College alongside Síla. He hit .355/.438/.419 in the postseason. He was only 1 for 14 in the 2012 European Cup but drew 5 walks and scored six runs. In the 7-6 upset of Bologna, he scored the winning run in the 9th. With the game even at 6, he drew a walk from Felix Romero and scored on a hit from Derhak. He was 0 for 14 in the 2012 European Championship with a steal, two runs, RBI, 11 putouts, one assist and one error, splitting left field with Jakub Malik. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, he got into one game, pinch-running for DH Pavel Budský and coming around to score in a 12-5 loss to Great Britain. Veselý pinch-hit for him when it was his turn to bat.

Ondráček hit .333/.421/.549 with 31 runs, 29 RBI and 12 steals (caught once) in 28 regular season games in 2013. He was 8th in RBI, tied for 9th in walks (21) and tied Arnošt Dubový for 6th in steals. He fell to .241/.361/.345 in the postseason with 7 RBI in 8 games as Draci Brno won the title. He batted .350/.409/.350 with four runs in five games in the 2013 European Cup, tying Jesus Golindano and Ramiro Balentina for 4th in runs scored. He struggled in the 2014 regular season (.246/.380/.263, only 5 for 8 in steals, while his brother went 16-for-16). He improved to .320/.406/.440 with 6 runs in 8 postseason games and Draci Brno won it all. In the 2014 European Cup, he hit .250/.294/.250. Despite his struggles in 2014, he still was on the Czech squad for the 2014 European Championship and he did well there - .353/.421/.412, 3 SB, 0 CS in 7 G.

In 2015, he hit .353/.441/.448 with 32 runs in 34 games and stole 14 bases in 14 tries, back in form. He was 9th in runs (between Matěj Hejma and Tomáš Juněc) and tied Michael Kremláček for 4th in steals. He hit .194/.297/.296 in the postseason as Draci Brno did not win for once. He batted .143/.308/.286 in the 2015 European Cup and made two errors as well. He was 4th with 5 walks and tied for second with 3 steals (one behind Stefano De Simoni). In March 2016, he was with the Czechs for the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. He led off the first two games and started in left, but was replaced each time, going 0 for 4 with 3 whiffs; for game 3, they opted for Síla instead.

Sources

• CEB website
• Czech Baseball Federation
• 2010 Intercontinental Cup Final Report
• World Baseball Classic