Marek Chlup (born January 9, 1999) is a Czech professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB). He also represents the Czech Republic national team.

Playing career

Early career

Chlup made his professional debut in 2014 with the Arrows Ostrava of the

Czech Baseball Extraliga The Czech Baseball Extraliga, or simply Extraliga, is the highest level of baseball in the Czech Republic. The league was established in 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The league is currently contested by eight teams and the games a ...

. Following the 2015 season, he moved to the Eagles Praha. Chlup was a member of Praha through the 2023 season, including while he was in college.

College

Chlup committed to the

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

for college baseball, playing his freshman and sophomore seasons with the Wolfpack. He transferred to

North Greenville University North Greenville University is a Private university, private Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist college in Tigerville, South Carolina. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges ...

for his junior season, the year the team won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2022. In their 2022 championship season, Chlup hit .390 with 12 home runs and 75 RBI for the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

. He was named the

Conference Carolinas Conference Carolinas, formerly known as the Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) or the Carolinas Conference, is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

Player of the Year for 2022.

Lake Country Dockhounds

On July 31, 2023, Chlup signed with the

Lake Country DockHounds The Lake Country DockHounds are a professional baseball team that is based in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The DockHounds currently play in the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. Lake Co ...

of the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor ...

. In 34 games with the DockHounds in 2023, he batted .325/.393/.627 with nine home runs, 25 RBI, and six stolen bases. Chlup signed an extension with the DockHounds on January 2, 2024. Prior to the 2024 season, his Extraliga rights were transferred by the Eagles Praha to Tempo Praha, after which he appeared briefly with Tempo while tuning up for the 2024 American Association season. On August 7, Chlup, Lake Country shortstop Demetrius Sims, and team broadcaster Dominic Stearn witnessed a bicycle accident near

Falls Park Falls Park is a public park in north central Sioux Falls, South Dakota, surrounding the city's waterfalls. The park includes a cafe, an observation tower, and the remains of an old mill. The park comprises over 128 acres just north of downtown ...

, and cared for the victims until paramedics arrived.

Yomiuri Giants

On September 25, 2024, it was announced that Chlup had signed a one–year

developmental contract In Major League Soccer, in addition to the senior roster, each team can carry a developmental roster of a certain number of young players whose contracts do not count against the salary cap. The allowable size of developmental rosters has varied t ...

with the

. Chlup made his debut with the Giants on July 12, 2025. He became the first European-born and developed position player in NPB history. He also became the first Czech-born baseball player in a major professional league since Frank Rooney (Rovný) of the

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

Indianapolis Hoosiers. After appearing in just two games, Chlup was diagnosed with a left hamate fracture on July 16. Before his season-ending injury, he went hitless in five at-bats over two games.

International career

Chlup represents the

Czech Republic national baseball team The Czech Republic national baseball team is the national baseball team of the Czech Republic. The team competes in the biennial European Baseball Championship and debuted in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. History Czech clubs began playing ...

in international competition. During the qualifiers for the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball tournament and the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It began on March 8, 2023, and ran until March 21. It was originally scheduled to take place in ...

, Chlup hit .353/.353/.706 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs to help the Czech Republic qualify for its first ever WBC tournament. In the main tournament, Chlup hit .333/.471/.417, one of the best offensive producers on the 2023 Czech team alongside

Eric Sogard Eric Sidney Sogard (born May 22, 1986) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, and Chicago Cubs. Sogard atte ...

and

Matěj Menšík Matej is a given name that originates from the Slavic nations of Central and Eastern Europe. It is one of the most common male names in Slovakia and Slovenia, and is also common in Croatia. The name is originally derived from Matthias the Apostle. ...

. During the game against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Chlup hit a double off

Rōki Sasaki , nicknamed , is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Chiba Lotte Marines. He made his NPB debut in 2021 for ...

and later scored to give the Czechs a brief lead. Chlup was selected to the Team Europe roster for the Global Baseball Games exhibition tournament against Samuari Japan, ahead of the

2024 WBSC Premier12 The 2024 WBSC Premier12 was the 3rd edition of the WBSC Premier12, a baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world, held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). Originally scheduled for 2023, but de ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chlup, Marek 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Liberec Czech expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball outfielders Lake Country DockHounds players NC State Wolfpack baseball players North Greenville Trailblazers baseball West Virginia Black Bears players 21st-century Czech sportsmen 2021 European Baseball Championship players 2023 World Baseball Classic players 2023 European Baseball Championship players Czech expatriate sportspeople in Japan Yomiuri Giants players