The Bonn Capitals have signed the 20-year-old infielder/reliever Michael Kratz for the 2011 season in the German Baseball-Bundesliga. He is coming from the Saarlouis Hornets to the northern division club. He enrolled at the University of Bonn for the current semester to start his studies, so a transfer made sense. He was a member of several youth and junior national teams in the past, having played together with new teammates Lennart Weller and Adrian Stommel.
Kratz made his Bundesliga career at the age of 15 for the Hornets in 2005. In the six seasons since he is batting a combined .199 (OBP .261/SLG .245) with 19 runs and 13 RBI in 76 games. On the mound he has an ERA of 8.23 with 17 strikeouts and 19 walks in 35 innings through 18 appearances (one start) since 2007. He wouldn’t have much of a perspective in Saarlouis anyway, as the Hornets announced their withdrawal from the Baseball-Bundesliga due to financial reasons a few weeks ago.