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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Czech 16-year-old Havlicek signs with Rays

For a minute there…I thought this might be MLB’s master plan to get that ball back from Mientkiewicz.

Stepan Havlicek, a 16-year-old pitching prodigy from the Czech Republic, has signed a minor-league contract with the Tampa Bay Rays, the US Major League Baseball club announced Wednesday.

Havlicek pitched for the Czech junior national team and struck out 13 batters in 11 1/3 scoreless innings during the European Junior Championships last August in Bonn, Germany.

The Rays said Havlicek would likely attend some portion of spring training, which begins in late February, and would play in Major League Baseball’s Australia Academy later this year.

The training would help determine at what level of the minor-league developmental system Havlicek might start in his quest to someday reach the roster of the Rays, who lost to Philadelphia in the 2008 World Series.

Repoz Posted: January 21, 2010 at 12:58 AM | 40 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: international, rays

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1. xdog Posted: January 21, 2010 at 01:24 AM (#3442594)

Bat him 6th.

2. Vrhovnik Posted: January 21, 2010 at 01:29 AM (#3442597)

Št?pán Havlí?ek. Hope they put the "?" on the jersey. EDIT: And the "í".

3. rene144 Posted: January 21, 2010 at 01:51 AM (#3442617)

He'll be known as "Hondo" in no time.

4. Rich Rifkin Posted: January 21, 2010 at 02:08 AM (#3442636)

I love the Czechs every bit as much as the next guy ... but what's the deal with every surname ending in ?ek? (I know .... I know .... Václav Havel ... and a few others ... but still, a whole lot of Czech Dub?eks.)

5. Crispix Attacks Posted: January 21, 2010 at 02:18 AM (#3442643)

He instantly becomes the best Czech MLB player since Elmer Valo.

6. Cabbage Posted: January 21, 2010 at 02:21 AM (#3442646)

I bet he can play goalie in a pinch

7. Hang down your head, Tom Foley Posted: January 21, 2010 at 02:29 AM (#3442653)

He has never lived in a world in which these people were active players. I can't imagine growing up without Rafael Ramirez and Ken Oberkfell.

8. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 02:30 AM (#3442656)

For a minute there...I thought this might be MLB’s master plan to get that ball back from Mientkiewicz.

Awesome.

9. Vrhovnik Posted: January 21, 2010 at 02:45 AM (#3442666)

but still, a whole lot of Czech Dub?eks
Alexander Dub?ek was actually Slovak. The "?ek" is a diminutive, sort of like "son of," so Stevenson would be Št?pán?ek.

10. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 02:46 AM (#3442668)

A good trivia question I always used to axe was "what Hall-of-Famer did the Cleveland Browns draft in 1962"?

the answer of course was Havlicek the elder, who Paul Brown drafted in the 7th round--saw him as a tight end. He actually was at training camp for a while, and doing quite well, according the the papers (Havlicek says otherwise). Then he decided to retire to try this other sport he was pretty good at...

11. Frisco Cali Posted: January 21, 2010 at 03:06 AM (#3442691)

That draft had 20 rounds. Did ESPN televise the whole thing?

12. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 03:19 AM (#3442698)

jmac, you been reading Designated Sitter?

13. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 03:20 AM (#3442700)

That draft had 20 rounds. Did ESPN televise the whole thing?

yes they did--every last round--which is amazing, considering there was no cable TV at the time...

14. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 03:22 AM (#3442702)

jmac, you been reading Designated Sitter?

oh no, Arthur Gwynn Geiger--I'm a Browns fan since the fiddies, and Havlicek's drafting got considerable ink at the time

15. Tulo's Fishy Mullet (mrams) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 04:43 AM (#3442785)

I love the Czechs every bit as much as the next guy ... but what's the deal with every surname ending in ?ek? (I know .... I know .... Václav Havel ... and a few others ... but still, a whole lot of Czech Dub?eks.)

I have the other Czech name problem, a lack of vowels. Four consecutive consonants with one vowel and another consonant. I am sentenced to an eternity of correcting people.

16. Lassus Posted: January 21, 2010 at 05:23 AM (#3442818)

I have the other Czech name problem, a lack of vowels. Four consecutive consonants with one vowel and another consonant. I am sentenced to an eternity of correcting people.

The Poles of the world hear you. Try one of my family names on for size: Feszczyszyn. Also, Rychlyck.

17. PreservedFish Posted: January 21, 2010 at 05:36 AM (#3442831)

Feszczyszyn

This seems like the work of a mischevious Ellis Island clerk.

18. Rich Rifkin Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:12 AM (#3442861)

The "?ek" is a diminutive, sort of like "son of," so Stevenson would be Št?pán?ek.

That's one "son of" a Republic they have over there in Czechonolongerslovakia. And speaking of the sounds frogs make, did you know in Czech they say, "Hrbek! Hrbek!" Or maybe that was in Minneapolis.

19. Slivers of Maranville (SdeB) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:19 AM (#3442862)

Czech also gives us the world's worst tongue twister: "Str? prst skrz krk", or "Stick a finger down your throat".

20. Zac Schmitt Posted: January 21, 2010 at 07:18 AM (#3442900)

I have the other Czech name problem, a lack of vowels. Four consecutive consonants with one vowel and another consonant.

As you can see, my last name also begins with four consonants in a row before a vowel. And it even has two consonants after that! Of course it being rather common and one syllable, I'm willing to bet a lot more people get it right than do yours.

21. Zipperholes Posted: January 21, 2010 at 07:49 AM (#3442921)

I just got back from there. I had no idea they play baseball. I'm always impressed to see a phenom emerge from a country where the training opportunities and competitive atmosphere for their sport was probably minimal.

22. Voros McCracken, Human Shield Posted: January 21, 2010 at 08:56 AM (#3442944)

Not the most intimidating looking hurler:

Stepan Havlicek

23. Obi One Kenobi Nil

Posted: January 21, 2010 at 09:15 AM (#3442947)

He looks like Napoleon Dynamite

24. rene144 Posted: January 21, 2010 at 01:55 PM (#3442967)

Other active Czechs in the minors:

Jan Rehacek, Petr Cech, Matej Hejma.

Just released:

Jakub Hajtmar, Jakub Sladek, Jakub Toufar.

25. Rants Mulliniks (formerly Cold Prosimian) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 04:34 PM (#3443076)

He looks more like a teenage BTF Primate than a ball player.

26. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: January 21, 2010 at 04:39 PM (#3443081)

That guy looks like a dork. Accordingly, I'm rooting for him.

27. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 04:44 PM (#3443085)

if he makes it to the show, there'll be a lot of bad pun headlines if he gets lit up

"Cancelled Czech"

"Czech Bounced"

etc etc

28. tjm1 Posted: January 21, 2010 at 05:15 PM (#3443111)

I just got back from there. I had no idea they play baseball. I'm always impressed to see a phenom emerge from a country where the training opportunities and competitive atmosphere for their sport was probably minimal.

I played in England for a couple years, and one of the guys in our club was a Czech guy. He had (probably still has) great footwork, a pretty swing, bunted well, got great reads on the ball. He wasn't big enough to be a serious high level ballplayer in the United States, but the way he went about playing was pretty clear evidence that they have some coaches over there who know what they're doing.

29. villageidiom Posted: January 21, 2010 at 05:24 PM (#3443121)

if he makes it to the show, there'll be a lot of bad pun headlines if he gets lit up

He's going to Australia, so I'm surprised this article wasn't titled "Czech Mate".

30. Vrhovnik Posted: January 21, 2010 at 05:33 PM (#3443137)

Czech also gives us the world's worst tongue twister: "Str? prst skrz krk", or "Stick a finger down your throat".

The Croatian response:
Ako bih se drhao od zime,
Molim, donesite mi deku,
Ogrijajte me,
Dopustite da nosim vaš kaput.

31. Stevis Posted: January 21, 2010 at 05:49 PM (#3443160)

Feszczyszyn.

Does Superman have to get you to say that backwards?

32. SoSH U at work Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:16 PM (#3443179)

The Poles of the world hear you. Try one of my family names on for size: Feszczyszyn

So Lassus, how does clan Feszczyszyn pronounce that gem?

33. Crispix Attacks Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:20 PM (#3443184)

My guess is that it rhymes with "Magician".

34. RJ in TO Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:21 PM (#3443186)

The Poles of the world hear you. Try one of my family names on for size: Feszczyszyn. Also, Rychlyck.

My wife used to work with someone who had the last name of Grsp. She apparently spent about half the workday correcting people on the pronunciation.

35. Juan V Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:24 PM (#3443187)

Other active Czechs in the minors:

Jan Rehacek, Petr Cech, Matej Hejma.

That would be an awesome two-way career.

36. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:30 PM (#3443194)

someone who had the last name of Grsp

did his rch exceed it?

37. Lassus Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:35 PM (#3443199)

So Lassus, how does clan Feszczyszyn pronounce that gem?

It really looks a lot worse than it actually is, I didn't mean to steal the Czech's thunder, which is probably more deserved. And it's Ukrainian first, filtered through about three generations within Poland after that, after talking to my mother.

So without using proper IPA, and with a 2nd-generation American accent, it's something along the lines of "fez-SCHJIS-nee-ihn".

38. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:35 PM (#3443200)

39. rene144 Posted: January 21, 2010 at 06:53 PM (#3443209)

The list of European pro players is growing by the day.

40. Best Dressed Chicken in Town Posted: January 21, 2010 at 07:00 PM (#3443212)

What the hell? I was just on the thread for the Sportspickle article, and suddenly it disappeared and was redirecting to some year-old thread about nothing.

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Czech 16-year-old Havlicek signs with Rays

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