The Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg officially confirmed the signing of left-handed pitcher René Herlitzius for the upcoming season on Monday. Rumors about this acquisition swirled around German Baseball since a few weeks. The 32-year-old already is playing in the Baseball-Bundesliga since 1997, when he made his debut for the Paderborn Untouchables. The past three seasons he pitched for the Dortmund Wanderers.
Herlitzius has a 58-18 career record with an ERA of 3.20 in 113 games (77 starts) in the Bundesliga, striking out 448 batters (178 walks) in 512 2/3 innings. In 2009 he went 4-1 with an ERA of 2.28 in nine games (five starts) for Dortmund (51.1 IP, 40 SO, 18 BB) during the regular season. Together with his new head coach Martin Helmig he won five German championships with Paderborn. Even though the southpaw will strengthen the pitching staff of Regensburg, they are still looking for a replacement for Eddie Aucoin.