Saentis Zeller

From BR Bullpen

Saentis Anton Zeller

  • Bats Left, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.

Biographical Information[edit]

Saentis Zeller won two MVP awards in the Swiss Ligue Nationale A.

Zeller debuted with the Zürich Challengers in 1993, hitting .400/.469/.600 and winning Rookie of the Year. In '94, he was at .372/.436/.512 with 16 steals in 19 tries and 33 runs in 20 games. He won the MVP in 1995 when he hit .453/.525/1.000 with 24 runs in 13 games, going 9-for-9 in steals. He batted .526/.604/.872 in 1996 and scored 44 times in 19 games. In 1997, he hit .400/.500/.680 with 21 runs in 14 games, going 12-for-14 in swipes.

In 1998, he hit .417/.519/.786 with 36 runs and 29 RBI in 21 games, stealing 19 bases in 20 tries. He won the Best Fielder award and the Challengers won their first title of his career. His stats for 1999-2003 are unavailable. In 2004, he hit .593/.645/.815 while winning a championship followed by .382/.478/.513 in 2005 and won Best Batter. The next year, he batted .328/.451/.593 with 10 steals in 11 tries. In 2007, he had a .370/.469/.605 batting line with 16 doubles and 36 runs in 20 games; he set a franchise record with five doubles in a game.

For the 2008 Challengers, he hit .459/.535/.838 with 11 doubles in 10 games. He was the third-oldest player on the Swiss national team in the 2008 European Championship Qualifier but would still play for them in two other decades. As their starting shortstop, he batted .350/.381/.400 with 5 runs in 5 games, fielding .875. He tied for 6th in the Antwerp qualifier in hits and tied Simon Plagg and Filip van der Meiren for 5th in assists.

He worked in Germany in 2009-2010 and did not play ball. Returning to the Challengers in 2011, the 34-year-old hit .245/.349/.396. He still made the Swiss team for the 2011 European Championship Qualifier, going 1 for 4 with a triple, two walks, two runs and three RBI as a bench player. He showed that '11 was more rust than old age as he hit .412/.470/.479 with 28 runs in 28 games during 2012. He won both Best Batter and Most Improved Player.

The Atlanta native eked out a .236/.315/.283 line in 2013. Still a presence on the national team, he was their second-oldest player after Roger Savoldelli, at the 2013 B-Level European Championship. He hit .267/.250/.400 and handled 9 chances error-free. He batted .347/.385/.472 in 2014 (going 6-for-6 in steals at age 37) and .244/.350/.267 in 2015.

Zeller hit .316/.415/.382 in 2016 and .306/.407/.365 in 2017. Switzerland's oldest player in the 2017 B-Level European Championship, he batted .176/.176/.353 with 6 RBI in 5 games, fielding .909, while starting at second base. He tied for 7th in RBI, tied Daniel Balich and Dimitar Nassapov for 4th in assists (13) and tied for the lead with four double plays.

He won his third title with the Challengers in 2018, batting .269/.384/.369 and stealing 10 bases in 11 tries at age 40. He hit .254/.338/.311 in 2019. He hit .167/.251/.333 with 5 RBI in 4 games in the 2019 B-Level European Championship. In the Ligue Nationale A in 2020, he produced at a .291/.412/.456 rate. He then hit .414/.417/.672 with 14 runs in 13 games in 2021, stealing 10 bases in 11 tries, to win his second MVP and his fourth Best Batter awards - at age 44.

In the 2021 European Championship Qualifier, he continued to play like a much younger man, hitting .467/.556/.933 with 5 runs, 2 homers and 11 RBI in 4 games; the only concession to age was that he was now primarily a DH, not a middle infielder. He tied for 6th in the qualifiers in hits (7), tied for 5th in homers and was 3rd in RBI (after Geidys Soler and Alexander Bolgov). He slipped to .231/.337/.282 in 2022 but still was 10-for-11 in steals and scored 22 runs in 24 games. He was 3-for-8 with a walk, 3 runs and a RBI in the 2022 European Championship Qualifier, as Switzerland won a spot in the 2023 European Championship, their first European Championship.

At age 46, he hit .257/.333/.378 with 20 runs in 21 games and again went 10-for-11 in steal attempts; he led the team for the most runs in 27 years, an impressive span between team-leading feats. At the 2023 Federations Cup, he batted .250/.333/.250. In the 2023 European Championship, he played in Switzerland's first European Championship game when he batted for Livio Bundi in the 6th inning against Israel, striking out against David Feins. He batted for Ryan Byrne and drew a walk from Germany's Marcel Giraud. He served as their DH against Italy, going 1-for-4 with a two-run single off Gabriele Quattrini that provided most of his team's RBI in a 12-3 loss. He was not technically the oldest player in the event as Erik Pappas was listed as a player-coach on Greece's roster, but Pappas did not play whereas Zeller not only did but got on base a couple times.

Sources[edit]

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