Peter Dankerl

Peter Dankerl

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born October 4, 1983 in Nürnberg Germany

Peter Dankerl has led a German league in wins twice.

Dankerl hit .357/.471/.714 in the 2001 European Junior Championship, with Germany's lone home run; he had a 15.43 ERA. In 2002, he was 11-1 with two saves and a 4.09 ERA for the Regensburg Legionäre. He led the southern Bundesliga-1 in wins (one more than Martin Almstetter), tied for third in saves and was 7th in ERA. During 2003, he batted .408/.517/.549 to finish third in average and fifth in OBP; he had a 1-1 record with 3 saves and a 4.25 ERA.

In 2004, the 20-year-old hit .260/.341/.342 and went 6-0 with a save and a 1.38 ERA, finishing 4th in wins. In the 2004 European Championship B Pool, he allowed one run in four innings and fanned 5, going 1-0. Dankerl moved to the Fürth Pirates and hit .315/.377/.424 while posting a 0-1, 2.57 record.

Dankerl hit .391/.443/.690 for the 2006 Pirates but was only 3-5 with a 5.52 ERA on the hill. He was 8th in the league in average, 5th in slugging and 7th in OPS. His five homers tied Alexander Lauterbach, Klaus Hopfensperger and Edward Martinez for 4th place.

In 2007, Dankerl moved on to the Heidenheim Heideköpfe and batted .315/.376/.425 as a backup 1B; he was 3-2 with a 4.76 ERA on the mound. Under new manager Mike Hartley, a former major league pitcher, Dankerl won more games than he had in the prior three years combined (and almost more than the prior 4 combined). He went 11-1 with a 2.96 ERA and batted .255/.309/.275. He was 10th in ERA and led in wins, 3 more than runner-ups Eddie Aucoin and Markus Winkler.

For 2009, Dankerl moved to the bullpen when Heidenheim signed former major leaguer Dusty Bergman to work alongside Winkler in the rotation.

He is on Germany's preliminary 40-man roster for the 2009 Baseball World Cup.

Sources

• German Baseball and Softball Federation