Umair Imdad Bhatti

Umair Imdad Bhatti

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 165-179 lb.

• Born March 3, 1987 in Lahore, Punjab Pakistan

Biographical Information

Umair Imdad Bhatti has been a catcher for the Pakistani national team in numerous events.

He first appeared in the 2010 Asian Games. He was 3 for 8 with two doubles, three walks, a steal, three runs and three RBI in the 2014 Asian Games, including Pakistan's lone RBI against Japan, driving in Muhammad Sumair Zawar against Reo Moriyasu. He led Pakistan in OBP, slugging and OPS in the event, tied for second in runs (3 behind Zawar) and tied for second in RBI (three behind Khurram Raza Khan). He had 19 putouts, two assists and no errors but allowed 11 steals in 12 tries.

In the 2015 Asian Championship, Bhatti was 1 for 13 with a walk as Pakistan's starting backstop again, with 25 putouts and no errors. His lone hit came off Yi-Chih Huang of Silver Medalist Taiwan.

He was Pakistan's top offensive performer in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, their first global event as opposed to just an Asian event. Starting at catcher in the opener against Brazil, he went 1 for 2 with a double facing Jean Tomé before Hidayat Ullah replaced him late in a loss. In their other game, against Great Britain, he was hit by a Greg Hendrix pitch his first time up and singled off Paul Kirkpatrick the other trip to the plate. He thus finished the event with a .667 average, .750 OBP and 1.000 slugging. Faqir Hussain was Pakistan's only other player with multiple hits, going 2 for 4. He missed qualifying for the tournament lead in average or he would have edged out former major leaguer Eric Farris as well as major league star Adrian Gonzalez in OBP and tied for first in slugging with three guys who had played or would play in MLB. Defensively, he was not as good, allowing 7 steals in 7 tries and making one error.

Starting at catcher again in the 2017 Asian Championship, he hit .182/.167/.182 with one run and one RBI in three games, fielding .947. His lone hit came against Sri Lanka in Pakistan's only victory.