Olaf Dreesen

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born August 16, 1977 in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany

Biographical Information

Olaf Dreesen played in the Bundesliga and for the German national team.

Dreesen hit .235/.294/.278 and fielded .806 in the 1993 European Junior Championship. He made it to the Bundesliga in '95, batting .318/.416/.364 for his hometown Bonn Capitals. The next year, he was at .286/.464/.429, followed by .390/.525/.458 in 1997, when he had 25 runs in 26 games. He was 7th in the Bundesliga-1 north in OBP. In 1998, he batted .408/.574/.531 with 20 runs in 18 games for the Günwald Jesters. He did not make the top 15 in average, falling .004 short, as the league still used aluminum bats. Switching to the Regensburg Legionäre in 1999, he was 6 for 22 with a double and seven walks.

He hit .309/.412/.371 with 36 runs in 27 games for Regensburg in 2000. He tied for 7th in the Bundesliga-1 south in runs and was 4th with 12 steals (in 15 tries). When the league switched to wood bats in 2001, he actually posted better numbers at .364/.506/.455. He finished 10th in OBP. In '02, he hit .333/.515/.333 with 29 runs in 27 games, going 18-for-22 in steal attempts. He fielded only .797, though, while playing mainly 3B. He tied for 4th in runs, was 7th in walks (20), ranked 6th in OBP (between Robert Gruber and Edward Martinez), tied for the most steals and tied for 9th in errors.

In 2003, he returned to Bonn and fell to .258/.430/.288. He still made Germany's team for the 2003 European Championship, going 3 for 10 with a run and a RBI; while a bench player, he was their only player at .300 (Rene Herlitzius was next at .286). He batted .267/.477/.317 in 2004 and fielded .924, starting at second. He led the league in walks (21) and was 9th in OBP and assists (49). His final season as a player, he hit .322/.468/.373 for Bonn with 20 runs in 19 games and stole six bases without being caught. He was 8th in OBP. He had hit .322/.476/.383 in 219 Bundesliga-1 games with 228 runs, 133 RBI, 161 walks and 98 steals in 124 tries. He later was head coach of Bonn.

Sources

• German Baseball and Softball Federation
• Wayback Archive, 2003 European Championship
• Mister-baseball.com