Florian Nehring

• Bats Left, Throws Right (some pages on the German baseball federation site list him as throwing lefty, which would be less likely for a 2B/3B/C).

• Born December 28, 1979 in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany

Biographical Information

Florian Nehring played in the Bundesliga and for the German national team.

Nehring debuted with the 2002 Cologne Cardinals, hitting .345/.427/.381 and fielding .941; he mostly played second base. He tied for 8th in the Bundesliga-1 north with 29 hits. He improved to .390/.479/.488 in 2003. He was 7th in average, 2nd in hits (32, 2 behind Octavio Medina), second with 29 runs in 24 games (5 behind Marc Marsch), tied for 4th in walks (14) and 7th in OBP. With Germany in the 2003 European Championship, he replaced Olaf Dreesen at DH in their opening loss to Italy, going 0 for 2. His next appearance came pinch-running for Klaus Hopfensperger. Starting at second against Belgium, he went 0 for 2 against Dennis van Hoof and Dominik Wulf pinch-hit for him; he formed an all-Florian middle infield with Florian Arnold.

He had a big year for the 2004 Cardinals at .402/.485/.460, fielding .951. He stole 10 bases in 12 tries and scored 22 times in 24 games. He was 6th in average, tied Medina for 3rd in hits (35), tied for 8th in runs, tied Medina for 5th in steals was 10th in slugging, ranked 6th in OBP and was 6th in OPS. He was only 2 for 14 in the playoffs, though. Moving primarily to third base in 2005, he fielded .890 and batted .325/.430/.388; he tied for 8th with 15 walks and tied for 8th with 9 steals. He rebounded to .417/.514/.571 in '06 with 32 runs in 24 contests, while he fielded .855. He was among the leaders in average (tied Philipp Von Soosten for 4th), homers (2, tied for 3rd), RBI (18, tied for 6th), hits (35, 2nd), runs (2nd), walks (17, tied for 2nd), slugging (8th), OBP (4th), OPS (5th) and errors (10, 6th). He was at .438/.571/.563 in the playoffs.

The Bonn native faded to .256/.381/.385 in 2007 but still scored a run per game (24 of each), while fielding .872. He was 5th in doubles (7), tied for 7th in runs, was 4th in assists (50) and tied for 7th with 11 errors. The next year, he was a C/3B, fielding .961 and throwing out 25.8% while hitting .390/.473/.467 with 26 RBI in 28 games; he stole 18 bases while only being caught four times. He was 7th in average (between Medina and Björn Schonlau), 3rd in hits (41), 4th in lowest K rate (5.8%, between [[Moritz Buttgereit and Jendrick Speer), 9th in OBP, tied for the steal lead and third in fielding percentage at catcher (behind Michael Franke and Julian Steinberg).

In 2009, he was a full-time catcher, fielding .981 but only throwing out 10.3%. He produced at a .279/.354/.314 clip. Only Chris Beck was harder to strike out; he was also 8th in putouts (143) and third in fielding behind the dish. For the 2010 Cardinals, the 30-year-old hit .370/.439/.398 and stole 10 bases in 11 tries. Bouncing between catcher, left, center and second, he fielded .982 and gunned down 9.1%. On the leader list, he appeared among the top players in average (7th), hits (40, 4th), steals (tied for 4th), fielding at catcher (last among qualifiers) and fielding in the outfield (perfect in 20 chances).

Florian moved to the Bonn Capitals and had 32 runs, 27 RBI and 28 walks in 28 games in 2011, stealing 14 in 15 tries and hitting .320/.478/.447. He fielded .957, now mostly back at his original position of second base. He tied Elliot Biddle and Wulf for 6th in RBI, tied for 6th in runs, was second in walks (9 behind Craig Pycock), tied for 7th in steals and was 4th in steal percentage. He fielded .940 and batted .304/.429/.373 for the '12 Capitals; he went 14-for-14 in steals, finishing 4th in swipes. In 2013, he was a full-time left fielder (handling 19 putouts and one assist with no errors), hitting .359/.500/.500 and stealing 15 bases in 18 attempts. He was 10th in average, tied Schonlau for 3rd in runs (35), was 4th in walks (23), placed 7th in OBP (between Bradley Roper-Hubbert and Daniel Lamb-Hunt) and was second in stolen bases (8 behind Tanner Leighton).

He had 24 runs, 20 RBI and 20 walks in 21 games during 2014, hitting at a .282/.459/.408 clip while again handling 20 chances without a miscue in left. He tied for 6th in RBI, tied Roper-Hubbert for 6th in runs, tied for the walk lead and was 10th in OBP. In '15, he was 1 for 8 with two walks. That appears to have been his final season as a player. He coached for Bonn in the 2023 European Champions Cup.

Primary source: German baseball federation