Mitch Evans

Mitchell Robert Evans

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 180-220 lb.

• Born April 11, 1981 in Brisbane, Queensland Australia (the BR minors page lists Sydney as his birthplace; both the British Baseball Federation and the Flintoff&Dunn Australian Almanac indicate he is from Brisbane)

BR page

Biographical Information

Mitch Evans played four seasons in the minor leagues.

Evans played for Australia in the 1997 World Youth Championship, helping his homeland win Bronze.

Evans got his first taste of pro baseball in 1999 with the GCL Yankees, hitting .182/.392/.182 and allowing opposing baserunners 20 steals in 24 tries. In the 1999-2000 International Baseball League of Australia, Mitch was 3 for 18 with a double and a walk for the Queensland Rams. Back in the USA that summer, Evans batted .186/.280/.209 for the GCL Yanks and again allowed 20 steals in 24 attempts. In 2000-2001 IBLA, Evans hit .216/.289/.297.

Evans concluded his Organized Baseball career with the '01 Staten Island Yankees, going 6 for 49 with 8 walks and two doubles. Opponents were 18-for-21 in steal attempts. In the 2002 Claxton Shield, Evans was 1 for 16 with a walk for Queensland.

In 2005, Evans came to Great Britain to play for the London Warriors. He went to Germany in 2006 and hit .414/.487/.596 for the Saarlouis Hornets with 25 runs in 26 games. He was 5th in the southern Bundesliga-1 in average, 10th in RBI (21), 4th in hits (41, 3 behind leader Simon Gühring), tied for 4th in walks (15), 5th in OBP (slightly ahead of Edward Martinez) and 10th in OPS. He threw out 32.3% of would-be base-thieves, tying for the league lead.

In 2006-2007, Evans coached for the British junior national team and worked in the country's baseball development program. Evans split 2007 between Saarlouis (.385/.556/.731 in 8 G) and the Calgary Vipers; he hit .286/.392/.371 for the latter club, but only threw out 9 of 72 attempted base-stealers.

He was 2 for 12 with four walks, two runs and a RBI for Great Britain in the 2007 European Championship; all the hits and 3 of the walks came in a win over the Russian national team; otherwise he was 0 for 10 with a walk. He was a player-coach for Britain in the 2010 European Championship, hitting .200/.333/.200 but his five runs tied Evan Romanchuk for the team lead. He coached for Britain in the 2012 European Championship.

He was back on the field by the 2013 B-Level European Championship, batting .400/.500/.650 with 7 runs and 5 RBI in five games as Britain won their pool to return to the A-Level Euros. He was a part-time catcher for the Brisbane Bandits in the 2013-2014 Australian Baseball League, with a batting line of .130/.217/.167.

Great Britain's oldest player in the 2014 European Championship, the former team coach showed he could still hit, batting .320/.469/.680 with a team-high 7 RBI in 7 games. He led Great Britain in OPS as well but did not make the Euros leaderboard in any key offensive stat. He was with Britain in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers as well, getting into two games late. In the opener against Israel, he pinch-hit for Kyle Simmons in the 9th with two on, two outs and a 5-2 deficit and struck out against Brad Goldberg. Versus Pakistan, he replaced Chris Berset at catcher and came up twice against Muhammad Asif; he was hit by a pitch and walked.

Sources

• German Baseball and Softball Federation
• Flintoff & Dunn Australian Baseball Almanac
• Great Britain Baseball Scorers Association
• Mister Baseball
• European Baseball Federation
• World Baseball Classic