Ralph Wentz

• Born March 29, 1967 in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia Germany

Biographical Information

Ralph Wentz played in the Bundesliga and for the German national team.

He was 1 for 8 with a walk and a run in the 1987 European Championship at age 20. He hit .313/.389/.313 with 8 runs and 4 steals in 8 games in the 1989 European Championship, fielding .895. He was one hit behind team leader Stephan Jäger and led Germany in runs (one ahead of Jäger) and steals. He led Germany with 3 steals in the 1993 European Championship and batted .278/.435/.333; only Martin Helmig had a better OBP for the team. German stats are not available online for seasons prior to 1994 (as of 5/3/2026). In 1994, the 27-year-old produced at a .447/.573/.659 clip for the Cologne Cardinals while going 8-4 with a 6.50 ERA. He was 5th in the Bundesliga-1 North in average, tied for second in RBI (38), was 3rd in hits (38), tied Gavin Marshall for 6th in doubles (13), tied Marshall for 5th in runs (33), led with 23 walks, was 8th in slugging, ranked 4th in OBP, was 6th in OPS, placed 9th in ERA (between Niels Buschke and Heino von Bargen), was 6th in batters fanned (59), ranked 4th in wins, threw the 8th-most innings (63 2/3), tied for 6th in walks issued (45) and was 8th in WHIP.

Wentz improved to 8-3, 3.12 in 1995 and hit .357/.461/.548 with 31 runs and 29 RBI in 28 games for the Cardinals. He was among the leaderboards in homers (3, tied for 7th), RBI (5th, between Wilgen Reyes and Matthias Winterrath), runs (tied for 9th), slugging (10th), OPS (9th), wins (3rd, behind Michael Wäller and David Amato), K as a pitcher (5th, 64), wins (3rd), innings (65, 7th), walks issued (39, 6th) and WHIP (1.35, 5th). He was at .308/.357/.538 with 6 runs in 7 games in the 1995 European Championship. He moved to the Bonn Capitals in 1996 and slipped to .290/.372/.478 though he posted a 5-3, 3.02 record with two saves. He struck out 38 to tie Jens Heymer for 8th in the Bundesliga-1 South and was also 4th in ERA, tied for 6th in wins, tied for second in saves (2 behind Glen Buckley) and was 10th in WHIP.

Not pitching for Bonn in 1997, he posted a .347/.447/.611 batting line. He was 4th in homers (5), tied for 7th in RBI (23) and 7th in slugging. Making the national team for the final team, he went 0 for 6 with a walk but pitched for them for the first team and was 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA (Torsten Wöhner had their next-best ERA at 1.69). With the 1998 Cologne Dodgers, he was 3-1 with 3 saves and a 3.38 ERA while hitting .353/.453/.529 with 39 RBI in 35 games for the German champs (they also won the 1998 CEB Cup Pool B). He was 4th in RBI, tied for 4th in triples (3) and tied Alex Baham for 4th in saves.

That was his final big year. At age 31, he was 2 for 17 (0-2, 5.11 on the hill) then 0 for 4 in 2000, going 3-1 with a 4.41 ERA. He did not play in '01. Returning in 2002 and now using a wood bat instead of an aluminum one, he went 2 for 12 with a walk. In 2003, he was 5 for 13 with 3 walks, 3 steals, 3 runs and a RBI to go out on a high note; the Dodgers won the 2003 CEB Cup as well. He had batted .267/.359/.344 with 19 runs in 29 games for the national team. From 1994-2003, he had hit .345/.452/.533 with 139 runs and 138 RBI. His 8 steals were tied with Sven Huhnholz and Stefan Pößl for 8th in German national team history as of 2010, the last time the stats were updated (as of 2026).

Source: German Baseball and Softball Federation