Jan Rüssel

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born June 27, 1980 in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg Germany

Biographical Information

Jan Rüssel played in the Bundesliga and pitched for the German national team in three European Championships. He led the Bundesliga-1 in wins twice.

He had a 36.00 ERA in the 1996 European Junior Championship and debuted in the Bundesliga-1, going 0 for 6 with 3 walks for the Mannheim Amigos and not pitching. He allowed 11 runs (10 earned) in 4 innings for his hometown Amigos in '97 and hit .231/.464/.256. He was 1 for 3 with a run in the 1997 European Junior Championship and gave up two runs (one earned) in one inning. In 1998, he was 2-0 with a 14.45 ERA for the Mannheim Tornadoes and went 5 for 11 with a walk, HBP and a homer. He was 0-1 with a 7.56 ERA at the 1998 European Junior Championship. He was named both Best Pitcher and MVP in German junior baseball that year.

Still a teenager, he was 6-1 with a 3.74 ERA for the 1999 Tornadoes, while batting .280/.400/.400. He was 4th in the southern Bundesliga-1 in ERA (between Stephen McCarty and Martin Almstetter), 3rd in strikeouts (58), tied Dirk Günther and Klaus Knüttel for 4th in wins, led in K/BB ratio (2.9:1), led in K/IP (1.34, .19 ahead of Kai McKinstry) and was 3rd in WHIP (1.36, behind Günther and McCarty). In the 1999 European Championship, he had a 3.37 ERA in two games in his senior national team debut; he struck out 10 in 5 1/3 IP to tie Frank Stattler for the team lead.

The right-hander produced at a .340/.475/.596 clip while going 6-4 with two saves and a 7.15 ERA in 2000. He was among the leaderboards in HBP (6, tied for 3rd), ERA (6th), strikeouts (61, 4th), wins (tied for 6th), saves (tied for 7th), innings pitched (56 2/3, tied for 5th), K/IP (1.08, 3rd) and WHIP (1.80, 5th). In '01, with the league going to wood bats, he posted a 10-2, 3.15 record and hit .258/.425/.258. He was 5th in ERA (between Almstetter and Markus Winkler), K (52, 6th, between Almstetter and Stephan Rapaglia), wins (one ahead of Knüttel), IP (54 1/3, 8th) and WHIP (1.23, 2nd, .07 behind Michael Otto). He allowed one run in one inning in the 2001 European Championship.

Rüssel hit .300/.403/.450 for Mannheim in 2002 while falling to 7-4, 5.16. He fielded only .754 after fielding .950 the year before, mostly playing third base when not pitching. He tied for 4th with 15 errors, was 8th in ERA (between Peter Dankerl and Hagen Rätz), was second in K (79), tied for 6th in victories and was 10th in IP (59 1/3). In '03, he had a 10-2, 1.75 record, fielded .880 and hit .256/.341/.333. He finished 4th in ERA, led in strikeouts (87, 7 ahead of Tom Gapp), tied Thorsten Wöhner and Phillip Dresel for the win lead, threw the second-most innings (77, 11 2/3 behind Dresel), was second in K/IP (1.13, .02 behind Otto) and was third in WHIP (1.10, after Wöhner and Almstetter).

In 2004, he was 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA, fielded .929 and batted .212/.300/.273. He was 9th in ERA, 7th in K (72), tied for 5th in wins, was 8th in IP (74) and was 8th in WHIP (1.26). The next year, he went 8-6 with a 3.53 ERA and slashed .257/.366/.300. He made leaderboards in ERA (6th, between Winkler and Gapp), strikeouts (68, 6th, between Gapp and Manuel Möller), wins (tied for 3rd), losses (tied for 5th), innings (104 2/3, 11 2/3 after Ryan Balan) and WHIP (1.40, 8th, between Jason McCarter and Jakub Vančura). In his swan song for the national team, he struggled in the 2005 European Championship (4 H, 9 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K). Only André Hughes had a higher ERA for Germany that year.

The Mannheim native hit .240/.322/.253 for the 2006 Tornadoes and was 1-2 with a save and a 5.75 ERA. In 2007, he rebounded to 5-3, 4.03 and was no longer playing the field. He placed 10th in ERA (between Aleš Keprta and Dominik Hartinger), tied for 8th in wins, was 10th in IP (67) and was 7th in WHIP. He did not pitch in the Bundesliga-1 in 2008 and was 4-2 with a 4.15 ERA in '09 to bring his career record to 62-28, 4.33 with two saves (though 5-10 in the postseason).

Source: German baseball and softball federation