Petr Pacas

Petr Pacas

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 200 lb.
• School Porterville College, University of New Mexico

• Born May 23, 1982 in Brno Czechoslovakia

Biographical Information

Petr Pacas was a top Czech pitcher of the early 2000s, winning three ERA titles.

In 1999, he played for Technika Brno in the Czech Extraliga (this is the first season for which full Czech stats are available online as of Dec. 2015). He hit .299/.413/.582 with 20 runs in 19 games, only pitching 7 innings (3 ER) and playing outfield primarily. He tied for second in the league in home runs (5, two behind Pavel Budský) and he tied for 4th with 13 walks, pretty good offensive numbers for a teenager.

In 2000, he was even better: .363/.459/.690, 34 R, 38 RBI in 29 G offensively; 8-1, 1.20 on the mound. He was 7th in total bases (78), tied for 5th in walks (18), 8th in home runs (6), led in wins (one over Jan Drábek, Lubomír Janda and Leoš Kubát), tied Kubát for 3rd in complete games (6), was second in strikeouts (65, 69 back of leader Michal Lisko) despite only being 9th in innings and easily winning the ERA title (less than half runner-up Lisko's 2.62). He had the second-best ERA of any Czech hurler to that point who had allowed an earned run; only Budský's 0.80 in 1999 was lower and Budský had pitched in the US minors.

The right-hander slumped to 2-1 with two saves and a 5.12 ERA on the mound for Techniko Brno in 2001 but batted .439/.519/.803 with 7 homers and 30 runs in 18 games. He was 8th in the high-offense league in slugging, 10th in average, 10th in home runs, 9th in OBP (between Martin Veselý and Tomáš Ovesný), tied for first in saves and tied for 9th with 39 whiffs. He was superb in the 2001 European Championship (1-0, 2 UER in 10 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 9 K) and also went 2-for-3 at the plate. He tied Michael Lays, Dave Eyckholt, Michael Marchesano, Jeroen Deken and Angelo Palazzetti for the tournament lead in ERA.

He did not play in the Extraliga in 2002 as he came to the US for college, posting a 5-4, 4.90 record at Porterville Junior College. In the 2003 European Championship, he had a 1-1, 1.04 record with only 3 hits and 4 walks in 17 1/3 IP while fanning 19. His .058 opponent average was second in the event (Fabio Milano was lower) and his .140 opponent OBP was second to Roger Kops. He was 3rd in innings (after Tetsuhiro Monna and Robin Roy), 5th in strikeouts (between Jimmy Summers and Gary Tongue) and tied for first in shutouts (1, even with Roy, Javier Civit, Kops and Eelco Jansen). He did not make the event All-Star team as Jansen was picked as the top right-hander.

Returning to Technika Brno for the first time since 2001, he was 3-0 with a 0.29 ERA in 2004, striking out 35 in 31 IP and hitting .440/.500/.800 in 10 games. He tied for 6th in complete games despite his limited action and led in ERA by .31. He also tied Aleš Navrátil for third in home runs (2). He spent most of the year in the US, going 1-3 with a save and a 7.66 ERA for the University of New Mexico. The Mountain West Conference was a high-offense league, with a team ERA of 6.85 for UNM (four of the six teams were over 6, the other two between 5 and 6). He was 1-1 with two saves and a 11.35 ERA for UNM in 2005, fanning 26 in 23 innings but giving up 44 hits.

With Technika Brno in '05 after the US college season ended, he was 3-0 with a save and 0.93 ERA, striking out 43 in 38 2/3 IP while hitting .227/.320/.545. He won his third Extraliga ERA title in his last four seasons there, .14 ahead of Jan Homolka. He struggled in the European Championship for the first time, going 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA, dropping decisions to Spain's Civit and Germany's Michael Otto. Pacas was 4-1 with a 0.79 ERA for Techniko Brno during the 2006 season while seeing limited action offensively (5 for 21, 2 BB, 2 2B, HR). He tied for third in wins (behind Budský and Marian Gajdos) and was second in ERA (behind Budský's .33). From 1995-2006, he was second in Extraliga history in winning percentage (20-3; only Roman Yatsyuk was higher) and 3rd in ERA (1.66, behind major leaguer Roger Deago and Yatsyuk); in both categories, he led all Czech natives. From 1995-2014, he was still second to Yatsyuk in winning percentage though he had dropped to 4th in ERA (former major leaguer Pat Ahearne and Jon-Jon Robles joining Yatsyuk ahead of him, Deago falling below him after returning from the majors). He still led all Czech natives as Ahearne was American, Robles Filipino and Yatsyuk Ukrainian. He was also 7th in slugging (.675, between Tomáš Pribyl and Budský).

Sources

• 2005 University of New Mexico Lobos Media Guide
• Czech Baseball Federation
• International baseball statistician Harry Wedemeijer
• Wayback Archive of the 2005 European Championship site