Martin Červenka


Martin Červenka is a Czech professional baseball catcher for the Baltimore Orioles organization. He played for Team Czech Republic in the 2019 European Baseball Championship.

Career

Cervenka trained at the European Baseball Academy at age 16. He signed with the Cleveland Indians in January 2009, and participated in extended spring training in 2009 and 2010, while finishing high school.
He made his professional debut in 2011 in for the Arizona Indians of the Rookie-level Arizona League, batting.164/.233/.218 in 55 at bats. The next season for the team he batted.240/.352/.280 in 75 at bats.
In 2013, playing for two minor league teams he batted.185/.271/.221 in 195 at bats. In 2014, playing in Class A- he batted.181/.250/217 in 83 at bats.
In 2015, playing in Class A he batted.184/.233/.247 in 174 at bats. In 2016, playing for two minor league teams he batted.272/.332/.383 in 342 at bats. In 2017, playing in Class A+ he batted.278/.343/.418 in 400 at bats.
After the 2017 season, Cervenka became a free agent and signed with the San Francisco Giants. He was selected by the Orioles in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. In 2018, playing in Class AA he batted.258/.317/.457 in 337 at bats, hitting a career-high 15 home runs and 60 RBIs. In 2019 he batted.233/.304/.324 in aggregate for three minor league teams, reaching Class AAA for the first time.

International career

He was selected for the Czech Republic national baseball team at the 2012 European Baseball Championship, 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualification, 2014 European Baseball Championship, 2015 USA Tour, 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualification, and 2016 European Baseball Championship. He played for the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament, in Italy in September 2019.

Personal

Cervenka's father, Filip, and older brother, Marek, also play baseball. Cervenka has completed a bachelor's degree and is studying for his Master of Business Administration.