Nikita Laykov

Nikita Laykov

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born July 8, 1998

Biographical Information

Nikita Laykov has played for the Russian national team.

In the 2015 European Junior Championship, he hit .154/.421/.154, handled 14 chances error-free and posted a 9.95 ERA as a two-way player. In the 2016 European Junior Championship, he did much better at the plate: .526/.609/.579, 5 R in 6 G. He fielded .769 and stole 3 bases in 4 tries; he did not pitch. He easily led Russia in average as no other regular was over .300. He led the whole event in fact, beating out players from stronger baseball countries, .026 ahead of runners-up Oliver van der Wijst and Tijmen Takke of the Netherlands. He was 8th in slugging, 2nd in OBP (.081 behind Takke), tied for 3rd in hits (10) and tied for 7th in swipes.

Having starred at the junior level, he made Russia's senior team the same year, for the 2016 European Championship. He got into four games, one as a pitcher and three as a position player. In his debut, he relieved Anton Kuznetsov in the 7th with a 10-0 deficit against the Czech national team. Martin Schneider singled, then Matěj Hejma homered and Jakub Malík doubled. Laykov settled down to retire Martin Červenka, fan Daniel Vavruša and get Petr Čech on a liner. The game ended after 7 due to the mercy rule. His first plate appearance came as a pinch-hitter for Yury Bakalets with a 8-1 deficit in the 9th against Sweden; despite the deficit, he was called on to bunt and sacrificed successfully against Bryan Berglund, a former Marlins farmhand. In a 3-1 loss to Greece, he again batted for Bokalets. He bunted a single off Jonathan Kountis and stole second but was stranded. Staying in at 3B, he had one assist then later fanned against Kountis. Finally, against Croatia, he replaced Bokalets at third in a 13-0 loss; he had one assist. In his lone appearance at the plate, facing Antonio Horvatić, he hit into an error by Franko Vrlić Kovačić but was stranded.

In the 2018 World University Championship, he hit .214/.400/.214 with 4 runs in 6 games and pitched one shutout inning.