Per Sjörs

• Bats Left, Throws Right

• Born December 15, 1988

Biographical Information

Per Sjörs has pitched for the Swedish national team in his teens, 20s and 30s. He won a Elitserien batting title while also leading once in wins. He has been finals MVP a couple times. He is the brother of Erik Sjörs. In 2005, he played for the Leksand Lumberjacks of the Elitserien, going 0-2 with a 8.25 ERA at age 16 and hitting .375. In '06, he was 4-0 with a 3.91 ERA while batting .450 in 20 AB.

In the 2007 European Championship, he was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA, getting the victory over Austria. He hit .300/.404/.300 in 2007 and was 5-3 with a 6.62 ERA. He tied Sami Säkkinen, Magnus Pilegård and Will Rikard for 7th in wins despite the highest ERA by a qualifier. He produced at a .324/.370/.378 clip in '08 and improved to 5-4, 4.08. He was 5th in ERA (between Mikael Fasth and Kent Karlsson), tied Magnus Hedberg for 5th in K (55) and tied for 7th in wins.

Sjörs played for the Sturt baseball club of Australia in 2008-2009. In the 2009 Elitserien, he hit .285/.318/.285 and was 0-1 with a 5.60 ERA in an off-year. He still made Sweden's squad for the 2009 Baseball World Cup. He pitched one game, closing out a 19-1, 5-inning mercy rule loss to Canada. He relieved Joakim Claesson and outperformed his predecessors, allowing only one run. He allowed singles to Emerson Frostad and Chris Robinson, got Adam Loewen on a fly and gave up a Jonathan Malo single. Brett Lawrie hit a comebacker and he threw home to get Frostad. Rene Tosoni singled in their only run before he fanned Shawn Bowman, holding his own against some players who would appear in the majors.

He had a 1-4, 5.63 record for the 2010 Lumberjacks, batting .239/.409/.304. He pitched one game for Sweden in the 2010 European Championship, closing out a 16-6 loss to Spain as their only hurler not to be charged with a run that game. Replacing Michael Andersson with the bases loaded, he got Emmanuel Febles to hit into a double play but Daniel Martinez singled in the other two runners to end the game with the mercy rule.

In 2011, he hit .333/.387/.481 and was at 2-0, 3.21. He batted .367/.432/.482 in 2012 and was 0-3, 3.86 on the hill. He was 8th in the league in average, 9th in OBP, 9th in slugging and tied for 2nd with 10 doubles. He made two appearances in the 2012 European Championship. Versus Spain, he replaced Oscar Carlstedt with one out in the 2nd inning of a 13-1, mercy rule loss; he allowed six hits, three walks and three runs (all earned) in 2 2/3 IP, striking out Néstor Pérez, before Karlsson relieved. His other outing was better; relieving Nick Soubiea in the 5th with one on and one out, down 6-2 against Germany, he retired both batters (Christopher Howard and Mets farmhand Kai Gronauer) before David Long took over.

Sjörs batted .430/.488/.506 for the 2013 Lumberjacks, while posting a 3-1, 5.67 record. He won the batting title (.003 ahead of Pilegård), was 8th in slugging and ranked 8th in OBP (between Philip Gajzler and Björn Johannessen). He hit .297/.354/.382 and was 0-1 with a 4.22 ERA in 2014; he tied for 4th with 25 RBI. He fielded .987 at 1B. In 2015, he batted .282/.356/.333 and was 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA. The next year, he produced at a .238/.338/.339 rate and had a big year on the mound (8-0, 1.19). He was 8th with 19 RBI, tied Jason Ochart for 6th in doubles (8), was 2nd in ERA (.80 behind Ochart), 1st in wins (2 ahead of Ochart) and 2nd in K (53, 19 behind Albin Sivard). He was named finals MVP, beating the Stockholm Monarchs in Game 2 and going 4 for 12 with 3 runs. Leksand won its 21st title but first in a decade.

He walked 7 in 5 innings in losing the 2016 European Championship opener to Germany and Enorbel Marquez but allowed only one run in four innings of relief to beat Great Britain. He had a 5.06 ERA for the Euros that year and was 0 for 6 at the plate. He tied Denis Leonov and Emil Sahlin for the most walks (8), though.

In 2017, the 28-year-old was a solid two-way threat (.348/.482/.500; 4-3, 3.44) though he fielded .783 at the hot corner. He missed the top ten in average by .001, was 8th in OBP (between Joel Johnson and Pär Axelsson), ranked 7th in slugging (between Daniel Johnson and Leonard Bäckström), tied for 5th with 8 doubles, missed the top 10 in RBI by one (he had 17), tied Max Hill for 10th in walks (17), was 8th in ERA, tied for 7th in wins and was 3rd with 56 strikeouts.

Sjörs fielded .803 at 3B in 2018 with a league-high 12 errors there. He was strong on the other ends, though - .336/.458/.413 at the plate, 10-2, 3.17 on the mound. He was 4th in runs (31), tied for 8th in doubles (8), missed the top 10 in OBP by .001, tied Elvis Hammarstedt for 10th in RBI (19), was 5th in walks (18), was 2nd in wins, finished 7th in ERA and was 2nd with 70 strikeouts. Leksand won the title.

In the 2019 Federations Cup, he beat the Therwil Flyers but lost to the Dornbirn Indians. He was 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 20 K in 15 IP, while hitting .267/.455/.267 with 5 walks and 5 runs in 5 games. He tied for 4th in walks, tied for 4th in ERA and led in strikeouts. In the Elitserien, he hit .405/.505/.472 and had a 4-1, 3.91 record. He was among the leaders in average (4th), OBP (10th), wins (tied for 7th) and K (53, 8th, between Jakob Claesson and Simon Andersson).

He lost to former major leaguer Michael Roth and Britain in the 2019 European Championship, going 4 1/3 IP and giving up 10 hits, 4 walks and 8 runs (all earned) while striking out only Ben Andrews before Nicklas Melin took over. Sweden had a rough tournament at 0-7. In the 2020 COVID-19-shortened season, he was 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA but batted only .205/.307/.294. He was 6th in ERA (between Jakob Syrén and Jakob Claesson) and tied for 7th in wins.

During 2021, his offensive woes continued (.200/.310/.260) while he was 3-2 with a 3.77 ERA and fielded .951 between pitcher and the four infield spots. He tied for 6th with 35 strikeouts and tied for 5th in wins. In the one-game finals, he blanked the Rättvik Butchers until there were two outs in the 9th, when Héctor Acuña drove in two. He struck out 8 in the victory over Ben Johnson and won his second finals MVP in 7 years.