Nino Sacasa

Nino Bryan Pascal Sacasa Petzsch

• Bats Left, Throws Right

• Born April 6, 1996

Biographical Information

Nino Sacasa has played in the Bundesliga and for the German national team.

In the 2013 European Junior Championship, he was 2-for-3 with a walk, steal and two runs. With the Buchbinder Legionäre, he went 2 for 5 in the 2014 European Cup. He took part in the MLB European Elite Camp that year. In the Bundesliga that summer, he was 2-for-3 with two runs and a RBI, backing up Lukas Jahn at second base.

Sacasa was a regularly-used backup infielder in 2015, hitting .340/.380/.404. The next summer, he became the main shortstop for them, ahead of Matt Vance; he batted .362/.388/.394, scored 26 runs in 24 games and fielded .957. He struck out only five times in 94 AB, the 4th-lowest rate in the Bundesliga-1 South (between James McOwen and Elias von Garßen). He was 8th with 62 assists (between Nateshon Thomas and Jahn) and second in fielding at short (though .029 behind Philip Schulz). In the 2016 European Champions Cup, he was 4-for-13 with a walk and a run but made two errors in 9 chances; only Dashenko Ricardo had more in the Cup.

He was 1-for-9 with 3 walks and 3 runs in the 2017 U23 European Championship. During the Bundesliga season, he slipped to .252/.301/.322 with a .876 fielding. He was 8th with 56 assists but tied for 3rd with 11 errors. The next year, he moved to third as Alex Schmidt took over at short; he hit .253/.266/.320 and fielded .904. In the 2019 U23 Euros, he batted .250/.357/.250 with 4 runs in 5 games; his 11 assists tied Kostiantyn Chukhas for 3rd. During the season, he hit .354/.423/.465 and fielded .882. He was 8th in average and tied Kevin Kotowski for 9th in runs.

Nino went 9 for 32 with 7 runs in the COVID-19-shortened 2020. In '21, he produced at a .402/.496/.620 rate with 26 runs. He was 10th in average, tied for 5th in doubles (8) and tied for 9th in steals (8 in 9 tries). The next year, he hit .302/.338/.333 and did not make any leaderboards. He was 8 for 26 with two walks and a double in limited time in '23. He still made the German team for the 2023 European Championship. After sitting out their first two games, he debuted against Switzerland, starting against second and drawing a walk from Cee-Jay Savoldelli his first time up. He scored the winning run in the 10th inning against France, on a Yannic Walther single. He was 1-for-8 with 3 walks, a steal and 3 runs for the tournament, handling 8 chances without an error at second base. He got his lone hit off Britain's Chris Messer.