Richard Dvořák

Richard Dvořák

• Bats Right, Throws Left

• Born 1973

Biographical Information

Pitcher-outfielder Richard Dvořák played in the Extraliga and for the Czech national team.

Statistics prior to 1995 are unavailable. He hit .246/.358/.351 for Olympia Blansko in 1995 (and would spend his entire career with them), stealing 13 bases and going 4-7 with a 6.72 ERA. He led the league in losses but was 6th in batters whiffed (43) and tied for 8th in swipes. In '96, he batted .247/.348/.312 and improved to 6-6, 6.22 with a save. He tied for 1st in losses, was 2nd in Ks (66, 9 behind Robert Paul, tied for 3rd in wins and tied for 9th in RBI (20).

In 1997, he produced at a .274/.312/.356 clip, stole 15 bases and went 6-6 with a save and a 6.44 ERA (the rest of the staff was 4-12). He tied Eric Jacques for 3rd in wins, tied for 6th in K (52) and tied Aleš Navrátil for 9th in swipes. He was on the Czech squad for the 1997 European Championship, their first appearance in an Asian Championship.

He had his best offensive season in '98 (.425/.462/.552, 20 RBI in 87 AB) while posting similar numbers on the mound (5-6, 2 Sv, 6.88). He was 7th in average, tied Pavel Chadim for 6th in steals (12), 8th in strikeouts (36), tied for 6th in wins and tied for 2nd in losses. The Blansko moundsman fell to 2-4, 7.64 with a save in 1999 and was 0-1 with a 7.02 ERA in the playoffs.

Richard had his best ERA (6-5, 5.09) in 2000 but fell to 2-3, 6.94 in the playoffs. He was 8th in the league in ERA, tied for 5th in wins (with Jan Homolka and Michal Kočí) and 7th in pitching Wins Above Replacement (1.2, between Radek Procházka and Paul). He struggled in 2001 (2-6, 12.43) but did well in the postseason (1-0, 2.95). He hit .228 in '02 and was 1-1 with a save and a 5.19 ERA.

In 2003, he went 2-2 with two saves and a 3.53 ERA and batted .274/.376/.356. He was 1 for 4 in 2004 and made brief appearances in 2007 (2 for 11, 6 BB, 2 RBI; 7.63 ERA) and 2012 (.185/.267/.204; 0-1, 9.00 in 8 G).

Overall, he was 34-44 with 8 saves and a 6.73 ERA from 1995-2012 and hit .273. He had 4.1 Wins Above Replacement. He coached for Czechia in the 2012 U-21 European Championship.

Primary Source: [www.baseball-stat.cz/Hraci/index.php?id=139 Baseball-stat.cz]