Sean Fekete

Sean Tamás Fekete

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 215 lb.

• School California State University, Sacramento, Oakland University, Ohlone College
• High School American School of Dubai

• Born December 18, 1999 in Budapest Hungary

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Sean Fekete has been on the Hungarian national team.

He was born in Hungary then moved to Russia briefly before his family came to Dubai when he was 11. He was allegedly the first player from the Middle East to play US college baseball. This is not true as Israelis Dan Rothem, Shlomo Lipetz and Alon Leichman had done it before him; it is unclear if this is just sloppy reporting or Anti-Semitic bias by the press.

Fekete did not play as a freshman at Sacramento State, being redshirted. Transferring to Ohlone, he allowed one run in 5 2/3 IP in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 and was 1-0 with a 5.73 ERA in 2021. He pitched for his native country, Hungary, in the 2021 European Championship Qualifier. He lost a 3-2 duel to Jakub Ižold of Slovakia and also was 2-for-10 with a double and two RBI.

In 2022, he improved to 8-2, 3.14 with two saves for Ohlone. During the 2022 European Championship Qualifier, he beat Sava Dupor and Serbia then had a 3-hit, 5-RBI game versus Poland. In the finale, he struck out 14 players from Slovakia, this time beating former Reds farmhand Ižold. He hit .429/.435/.714 for the event with 9 RBI in 5 games; he had a 1.88 ERA with 26 K in 14 1/3 IP and fielded .957. He tied Mathis Meurant and teammates László Győri and Bálint Piros for 5th in hits (9) in the 3 qualifiers, tied Thierry Burkhardt for 5th in homers (2), was one RBI behind pacesetter Michal Puškár, tied for 6th in total bases (15, even with Meurant, Carlos Rubio and Léo Jiminian), tied Ižold and Jonah Schaller for the most wins, was 3rd in ERA (behind Gytas Morkunas and Schaller), ranked 3rd in IP (after Evgenii Chernozemsky and Ižold) and led in strikeouts (one ahead of Ižold). He was a huge reason why Hungary won a spot in the 2023 European Championship, their first European Championship. He was named the MVP of the Belgrade pool.

Transferring again, he had a 4-4, 7.64 record for Oakland University in 2023. In the 2023 Euros, he started Hungary's first game in a European Championship, versus traditional powerhouse Italy and Matteo Bocchi. He allowed a leadoff single to Nathanael Batista and a RBI double to Ricardo Paolini. He retired former major leaguer Robel García and walked Vito Friscia then struck out Federico Celli. Cesare Astorri hit into a two-run error by Cesar Chacin. After a Sebastiano Poma double made it 4-0, Fekete struck out Giulio Monello. He allowed the bases loaded to open the second then struck out García and Friscia and got Celli to escape the jam. Tibor Bagyinszki relieved. The next game, he played first base against Great Britain. He flew out against Matteo Sollecito his first time up but later drew a bases-loaded walk from Tyler Sharples for his first RBI. His first hit was a two-run double off Sweden's Oskar Syrén. He also started and lost to Croatia's José Mendoza. He finished the Euros that year at 0-2, 4.32 with 11 K in 8 1/3 IP. He hit .200/.294/.400 with six RBI in four games as a batter and fielded .913. He tied Maurizio Andretta for 10th in strikeouts and tied for the most losses. Only Piros and Graeham Luttor had more RBI for Hungary. He led the team in IP (2 ahead of Robert Ogg) and K (5 ahead of Paul Ogg).