Sam Buelens

Sam Buelens

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 160 lb.

• Born December 27, 1995 in Antwerp Belgium

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Sam Buelens has played in the minors and for the Belgian national team.

His mother was a softball player. Buelens hit .315/.393/.382 for the champion Brasschaat Braves in 2013, his First Division debut. He went 8 for 9 in steals, scored 15 times in 21 games and had 23 putouts, one assist and no errors. He attended the MLB European Academy that year. In the 2013 European Junior Championship, he hit .304/.448/.304 with 7 runs in 6 games and 8 swipes (caught once). He tied Matěj Bužga for the event lead in steals.

Buelens produced at a .348/.448/.430 clip for the Borgerhout Squirrels in 2014, leading the league with 50 runs (in 34 games), 6 ahead of Steven De Lannoy. He also led with 31 steals in 31 tries, 9 ahead of the runner-up. For the second year in a row, his team took the title. He got into one game for Belgium in the 2014 European Championship, their third-youngest player ahead of only Axel Poesmans and Matthew De Permentier. In his one contest, he replaced De Lannoy in center late in a win over Russia and struck out against Denis Leonov in his lone at-bat.

He was the second Belgian-raised player to sign with a MLB team when he did so late in 2014, inking a deal with the Toronto Blue Jays; he followed Thomas De Wolf. The Blue Jays were impressed by his speed as he was timed at 6.48 seconds in the 60-yard dash. The scouts were Ismael Cruz and Lionel Chatelle.

In 2015, he played five games for the Squirrels (7 for 20, 2B, 3B, 5 BB, 10 R, 3 SB). He showcased his footspeed with the DSL Blue Jays that summer, going 20-for-22 in swipes. He hit .232/.347/.253 and scored 20 runs in 42 games. He had 54 putouts, 2 assists and no errors in strong defense in center. He led the team in steals. That winter, he played for the European team in the Asia Winter Baseball League.

Buelens fell to .132/.333/.151 for the '16 DSL Blue Jays but still managed 17 runs in 22 games. That ended his time in the US minors. Starting in left for Belgium in the 2016 European Championship, he eked out a .125/.300/.167 batting line and again had more runs (6) than hits (3). He drew 6 walks, was 2-for-2 in steals and had 21 chances error-free (one assist). He tied for 10th in the event in swipes and tied Roger Bernadina, Felix Brown, Stefano De Simoni and Alex Sambucci for 5th in walks. Against Czechia, he scored in the top of the 10th but Belgium lost it in the bottom of the inning.

In the 2017 European Under-23 Championship, he hit .238/.407/.238 with 6 runs and 5 steals (in 7 tries) in 6 games and made a rare error. He tied Dominick Golubiewski and Leonel Cespedes for 2nd in stolen bases, one behind Daniil Khomyakov. Returning to Brasschaat, he was 0 for 1 with two walks as a bench player in the 2018 Federations Cup. For the regular season, he hit .231/.310/.256 and stole 14 bases without being caught. He was 6th in the loop in swipes.

He saw limited action for the Hoboken Pioneers in 2019 (6 for 23, 2B, 4 R, SB). Oddly, he was on team North America in the 2019 World Port Tournament, but so were Australian Darryl George and Poland's Artur Strzalka. He was 2 for 7 with a walk.