Billy Germaine

William Germaine

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 214 lb.

• School Southern Arkansas University, Hill College

• Born October 28, 1994 in Aldergrove, BC CAN

BR register page

Biographical Information

Billy Germaine has played in the independent leagues and in Germany and for the German national team.

As a youth, he was on a traveling team with Tyler O'Neill. He hit .297 as a junior college freshman and .308 as a sophomore with 33 RBI in 39 games. Transferring to Southern Arkansas, he batted .338/.420/.783 with 66 RBI in 56 games as a junior and .302/.436/.838 with 18 HR, 50 runs and 48 RBI in 50 games as a senior. He was second in the Great American Conference in homers.

The Canadian signed with the Southern Illinois Miners and hit .298/.379/.351 in 20 games then remained as a bullpen catcher after being released. His brother Joe Germaine was playing in Germany and advised Billy to try it out. He signed with the minor league Lauf Wolfe club and batted .567/.680/1.056; the team had a chance to move up to the Bundesliga-1, Germany's top league, but turned it down. Billy decided he was moving up to that level, though, and signed as a player-coach with the Ulm Falcons. He produced at a .347/.449/.543 clip, finishing among the Bundesliga-1 leaders in homers (7, tied for 8th), steals (15, tied Phildrick Llewellyn for second, one behind Nateshon Thomas).

He next moved to the Stuttgart Reds. The 2020 season was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic; he hit .488/.627/1.116 with 8 homers in 59 at-bats. He led the southern Bundesliga-1 in runs (23, 3 ahead of Matt Vance), tied Danilo Weber for 4th in hits (21), led in dingers (one ahead of Pascal Amon and Max Boldt), was second in total bases (48, 7 behind Vance), was 9th with 15 RBI, placed second with 15 walks (two behind Sascha Lutz), was third in average (after Vance and Weber), led in OBP (.007 ahead of Lutz), led in slugging (.134 ahead of Vance), led in OPS (145 ahead of Vance). He fielded .981 but only threw out 2 of 30 who tried to steal.

In '21, he remained one of Germany's top hitters at .433/.585/1.021 with 16 homers in 28 games. He was second in the southern Bundesliga-1 with 48 runs (four behind Shawn Larry), tied Andrija Tomić for 5th in hits (42), tied Boldt for second in home runs (5 behind Larry), third in total bases (99, behind Larry and Boldt), tied Boldt for second in extra-base hits (24, 5 behind Larry), 3rd with 45 RBI (behind Larry and Boldt), tied Philip Schulz for the most walks (34), was 4th in average (between fellow Canadian Will Thorp and Juan Martin), was third in OBP (after Larry and Thorp), was second in slugging (.339 behind Larry) and was second in OPS (431 behind Larry). He fielded .975, splitting time between the outfield and catcher.

Germaine moved to short for the 2022 Tübingen Hawks and also was their hitting coach. He batted .322/.483/.678 and fielded .895. He was among the Bundesliga-1 south leaders in homers (10, 3rd, behind Austin Gallagher and Boldt), total bases (61, between Gallagher and Larry), walks (21, between Terrell Joyce and Schultz), hit-by-pitch (6, tied for 4th with Boldt and Devon Ramirez), intentional walks (11, 1st by 7), OBP (8th among those with 50+ PA), slugging (6th among those with 50+ PA, between Larry and Thomas) and OPS (7th among those with 50+ PA). He also got engaged to a German lady, a softball player.

He then suited up for Germany in the 2022 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, starting at third base for the hosts of the Regensburg pool. Hitting cleanup, he drew a walk from former major leaguer Akeel Morris his first time up. He had three hits versus South Africa, including a homer off Kevin Townend. In the first inning against Czechia, he hit a three-run shot off Daniel Padyšák in the first inning but the Czechs outscored Germany 8-1 the rest of the way to eliminate Germany. He hit .417/.462/1.000 with three runs and four RBI in three games. He tied for 10th in the event in hits, tied for second in homers (one behind top Mariners prospect Harry Ford), tied for 9th in RBI (with Marek Chlup, D'Shawn Knowles, Martin Mužík and Justin Wylie), was 6th in average for those with 10+ AB (between Ford and Noelvi Marte), was 10th in OBP (between Jaden Rudd and Oscar Angulo), 2nd in slugging (.364 behind Ford) and 2nd in OPS (490 behind Ford).