The German Baseball-Bundesliga club Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg announced on Tuesday in a press release that left-handed pitcher Martin Almstetter will leave the team. The 30-year-old informed head coach Martin Helmig about the decision this past weekend. His new club is not known yet. In January he originally had confirmed to stay with the champion of 2008. Update 2/9 7.22pm: Correction: He didn’t make a commitment in January.
Almstetter made his Baseball-Bundesliga debut with the Bonn Capitals in 1998. One year later he joined the Legionaere, where played since. In his career he has made 152 appearances (119 starts) on the mound with an ERA of 3.24. In 753 2/3 innings he has struck out 592, while walking 296. Since 2001 the southpaw also was part of the German national team, where he has an ERA of 3.79 in 15 games (4 starts).
Regensburg now needs to look for a replacement. Additionally the club also revealed that the 26-year-old right-hander Scott Lonergan will not be the successor of Eddie Aucoin on the position of the foreign pitcher. The Californian, who played in the European Cup for the Buchbinder Legionaere and in the Golden Baseball League last season, suffered a shoulder injury, which sidelines him for six months.