Jan Novák

Jan Novák

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 6' 3", Weight 190 lb.

• Born January 19, 1994 in Prague Czech Republic

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jan Novák has pitched in the US minors and in the Extraliga.

Novák went to the MLB European Academy in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He was 0-1 with a 8.53 ERA and 2.21 WHIP for the Czech Republic in the 2011 European Junior Championship, though he did fan eight in 6 1/3 IP. He was toasted in a start against the Netherlands (7 H, 3 BB, 6 R, 4 ER in 2 2/3 IP).

In the 2012 World Junior Championship, Jan went 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA. 1.95 WHIP and 9 K in 10 IP, losing to Panama and the Netherlands. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, Jan was the least effective Czech hurler. In his only game, he relieved Petr Minařík with a 11-1 deficit to open the bottom of the 6th. Jendrick Speer hit into an error by Mike Cervenak, Max Kepler drew a walk, Ludwig Glaser and Max Boldt hit back-to-back singles and Simon Gühring walked to make it 13-1. Radim Chroust relieved and let all three inherited runners score, giving Novák five runs allowed and nobody retired. Nevertheless, the Baltimore Orioles signed him two months later; the scouts were Brett Ward and Mike Snyder.

Novák made his U.S. debut with the GCL Orioles in 2014, going 1-0 in 3 appearances, giving up only one hit and no runs in 3 innings of work. In the 2014 European Championship, he was 0-1 with a 11.57 ERA, losing to Italy. He allowed 5 walks, 4 hits and 7 runs (6 earned) in 4 2/3 IP while fanning five. Only fellow minor leaguer Marek Minařík had higher ERA for the Czech team.

With the 2015 GCL Orioles, he was 1-1 with a 4.21 ERA in 18 outings. He pitched for Kotlářka Praha in the Extraliga postseason and came up huge in the finals. Facing Draci Brno (which had won 21 of the prior 22 titles) with a 2 games to 1 lead, he went the distance, not allowing a run until the 9th in a 3-1 win. He struck out eight and allowed five hits and three walks.

In March 2016, he was with the Czech team for the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers. Relieving Marek Červenka with a 2-0 deficit in the 4th against host Mexico, he shut them down for 3 2/3 IP, allowing two hits and two walks (to Alex Mejia and Walter Ibarra) while whiffing three before turning things over to Alex Sogard. The Czechs lost a surprisingly close 2-1 game.

Sources

• Mister Baseball
• 2011 European Junior Championship
• 2012 World Junior Championship
• 2013 WBC Qualifiers
• 2014 European Championship
• World Baseball Classic
• 2013 Orioles Media Guide