Sascha Lutz

From BR Bullpen

Sascha Lutz

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 6' 5", Weight 198 lb.

Biographical Information[edit]

Sascha Lutz is an outfielder who has played in the Bundesliga-1 and for the German national team. His younger brother Donald Lutz played in the major leagues. The Lutzes are dual citizens of the USA and Germany; their father is American and their mother is German. He has led the Bundesliga-1 north in runs, RBI and steals.

Sascha Lutz hit .456/.556/.595 for the 2007 Mainz Athletics, helping them win the Bundesliga pennant. He was second to Simon Gühring in OBP, beating out former minor leaguer Ben Himes, and he finished 4th in average. He joined the German national team that year. In the 2007 European Championship, Lutz hit .419/.486/.548 with 7 runs and 3 steals in 8 games for the 4th-place German entry. He joined US minor leaguers Roger Bernadina and Danny Figueroa on the tournament All-Star team. He was less successful in the 2007 Baseball World Cup, batting .160/.214/.200 with 8 strikeouts in 25 at-bats. He scored a run against the mighty Cuban national team, drove in an insurance run in Germany's win over Thailand and was 2 for 5 with a double in a close 4-2 loss to Australia.

Lutz batted .269/.345/.423 as Germany's top hitter in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament and was caught stealing in one of three attempts. He played flawless defense in center field, with 17 putouts and one assist. He provided the only run in Germany's 1-0 win over the Spanish national team with a solo homer off of Yoel Hernandez. His brother was his national team teammate for the first time. In 2008, he hit well in limited time for Mainz (.400/.607/.550, 16 R, 11 SB, 19 BB in 15 G). Despite his limited time, he tied for 5th in walks, tied Alex Lauterbach for 5th in steals and would have led in OBP had he qualified (adding enough plate appearances to qualify with zero times reached, he would have been 4th at .493). He missed the 2008 European Cup.

Moving to the Mannheim Tornados in 2009, he hit .299/.433/.464 with 33 runs in 24 games, 15 steals in 16 tries and 52 chances (49 PO, 3 A) without an error. He led the league in runs (four more than Ray Stokes), tied for 4th in walks (17), was 5th in steals (between Ryan Lilly and Matt Vance) and tied for the most outfield assists. In the 2009 Baseball World Cup, he was again one of Germany's top hitters (.333/.500/.444, 2 R, 1 RBI in 3 G, tying Kai Gronauer for the team lead in OBP) and handled 8 chances in center without a miscue.

He hit .411/.480/.561 in 2010, placing on the league leaderboard in average (5th, between Chris Beck and Sam Whitehead), RBI (first, 35, 2 ahead of Marvin Appiah), hits (tied for 4th with Robert Gruber at 44), runs (tied for 9th with Raef Hobbs-Brown, 29), slugging (9th), OBP (8th, between Czech catchers Petr Čech and Jakub Voják), OPS (8th, between Čech and Gruber) and steals (6th, 13). His defensive stats were nearly identical (48 PO, 3 A, 0 E). He moved to left in the 2010 European Championship (Cedric Bassel taking CF) and hit .321/.486/.357. He had 6 walks, 7 runs and 6 RBI in 8 games. He tied Gühring for second on the team in runs, tied for second in RBI (three behind Ludwig Glaser), tied Glaser for the most walks and again dazzled on defense (6 PO, 1 A, 0 E). He made a bases-loaded catch in the 8th on a hard drive by Steven De Lannoy in a win over Belgium and threw out Florian Peyrichou at home in a one-run win over the French national team. Offensively, his best day (4 for 4, 4 R) came against Greece.

Lutz hit .317/.452/.524 for the 2011 Tornadoes, swiping 14 bases in 15 tries and scoring 27 runs in 22 games while fielding .950. He tied for 8th in the league with 3 homers, tied Čech for 5th in runs, tied Mike Larson for second in walks (20), was 10th in OBP and led in steals. He batted .345/.406/.414 with six runs in eight games in the 2011 World Port Tournament, leading Germany in average (.024 over Jendrick Speer) and runs (one more than Gühring). In the 2011 Baseball World Cup, he started in RF for Germany (and played a little CF). He hit leadoff early on before losing the spot to future major leaguer Max Kepler. He hit .136/.367/.136 with 2 runs and 3 RBI in 7 games, albeit with a team-high 7 walks. He had 10 putouts, one assist and no errors. It was his last national team appearance for five years.

The veteran saw limited action in 2012 (11 for 20, 5 2B, 6 BB, 6 R, 6 RBI) then moved to the Stuttgart Reds for 2013. He hit .410/.485/.566 and fielded .958 for them, driving in 23 runs in 22 games. He finished second in average (behind Evan LeBlanc), 10th in RBI and hits, 8th in slugging (between Jay Pecci and Max Boldt) and 3rd in OBP. He joined his 4th team the next year, the Heidenheim Heideköpfe. He produced at a .353/.463/.539 clip for them with 37 runs, 21 walks and 15 steals (in 18 tries) in 26 games. Playing mostly LF, he had 31 putouts, one assist and no errors. He was second in runs (5 behind Joseph Dyche), 7th in walks, 8th in OBP and tied for 3rd in steals. He hit .282/.364/.436 in the postseason.

With Heidenheim in 2015, he batted .436/.529/.731 with 27 runs, 30 RBI and 19 walks in 21 games. He made the leader list in average (3rd, behind Thomas De Wolf and Aaron Dunsmore), RBI (6th), triples (3, tied for 1st), runs (tied for 9th), walks (tied for 4th with Kevin Kotowski), steals (12, tied for 5th with Gavin Ng), slugging (2nd, trailing De Wolf by .120) and OBP (2nd, .037 behind De Wolf). He hit .288/.367/.404 with 13 runs in 13 games in the postseason as the team won the title; he tied Jamie McOwen for the most runs in their successful postseason run. He hit .250/.333/.250 in the 2015 European Cup.

Returning to the German national team for the first time since 2011, he started in left in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. He was 3 for 7 with a hit-by-pitch but had no runs or RBI in their two games. Only Bruce Maxwell had a better average or OBP for Germany, Sascha outperforming his more famous brother, and he was third in OPS behind Maxwell and Glaser.

Sources[edit]

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