Italy's Alberto Mineo from the Chicago Cubs organisation - Photo by FIBS
The 5th annual 2012 MLB Academies Tournament will be played in Regensburg, Germany from March 31 to April 6 – the third consecutive year the event will be held at Armin Wolf Arena. The teams on hand will be Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden, Italy, Czech Republic and Austria.
heinnews talked to the coaches in charge of the teams to get a run-down on what international baseball fans can expect from the tournament – and the future.
Italy coach Bill Holmberg’s description of his team:
Looking over your roster, who do you see as some of your top players and maybe you can tell me a bit about those players and how high can they go in professional baseball?
Top players on the Italian team: Sebastiano Poma, Davide Benetti, Davide Anselmi, Mattia Mercuri, Martin Gasparini, Alberto Mineo, Lorenzo Gradali, Paolo Taschini and Joel Valera.
I think that Alberto Mineo has a very good chance of moving up the ladder in the Cubs system. He has all the tools, just needs a little bit of experience. Possible signs: Martin Gasparini, Davide Anselmi, Paolo Taschini, Joel Valera, Mattia Mercuri, Lorenzo Gradali and Sebastiano Poma.
Looking at this class(es) of players, where does it rank in past classes? Is this a particularly good or bad year for the system?
This class is probably the best group that I have had, talent throughout the roster. Maybe a few too many fringy prospects, but they are all BASEBALL PLAYERS.
I’d say a good year for the system, with more talent on the way in the younger age groups (12-13 years).
What players from your system would normally be here but are not and for what reason?
I think we have just about everyone we could want to see, might be a few that were not able to come because of school, or that were too young.
What do you think about this MLB Academy tournament and others like it? What are the biggest benefits for the players?
The tournament is great for our players. We will be playing 6 games in 4 days and it allows the national team coaches the opportunity to see the players and how they fit into the Junior National Team that is going to Korea. Our objective at the Academy is to play 30-35 games over and above what they play with their club teams and this allows us to add 6 games to that total in a short period of time.
And finally we are very grateful to MLB for sponsoring this event, without their help we could not come up to Regensburg, especially considering the tough economic conditions that Europe and most of all Italy are facing at this time.
– – – –
Roster as of 21 March 2012
| NR | NAME | POSITION | DOB | TEAM | H | W | B | T | |
| 94 | Anselmi Davide | Pitcher | 11.01.1995 | Castenaso | 6’3 | 210 | R | R | SCRATCH |
| 88 | Bassi Giacomo | Pitcher | 01.11.1995 | Crocetta | 6’3 | 180 | R | R | |
| 30 | Bazzarini Simone | Pitcher | 06.06.1994 | Macerata | 6’1 | 185 | L | R | |
| 85 | Celli Federico | Pitcher | 15.02.1995 | Rimini | 6’2 | 200 | R | R | |
| 82 | Gradali Lorenzo | Pitcher | 11.01.1995 | Crocetta | 5’11 | 185 | R | R | |
| 7 | Pancellini Mirko | Pitcher | 26.02.1997 | Grosseto | 5’11 | 165 | L | L | |
| 96 | Quattrini Gabriele | Pitcher | 18.07.1996 | Unione Picena | 6’4 | 210 | R | R | |
| 75 | Taschini Paolo | Pitcher | 20.02.1994 | Nettuno | 6’4 | 170 | R | R | |
| 84 | Varin Enrico | Pitcher | 11.01.1995 | Redipuglia | 6’3 | 195 | R | R | |
| 76 | Cozzolino Federico | Pitcher | 25.01.1994 | Parma | 6’2 | 175 | R | R | SCRATCH |
| 50 | Cestarelli Sergio | Catcher | 15.02.1997 | Nettuno | 5’10 | 195 | R | R | |
| 20 | D’Alesio Edoardo | Catcher | 22.08.1994 | Livorno | 5’11 | 185 | R | R | |
| 27 | Deotto Alessandro | Catcher | 07.12.1995 | Parma | 6’0 | 190 | R | R | |
| 31 | Mineo Alberto | Catcher | 23.07.1994 | Ronchi L. | 5’11 | 190 | L | R | |
| 22 | Trinci Mario | Catcher | 16.11.1994 | Nettuno | 5’11 | 165 | R | R | |
| 81 | Benetti Davide | Infielder | 20.05.1994 | Parma | 5’10 | 195 | R | R | |
| 1 | Brignone Fabrizio | Infielder | 29.08.1993 | Anzio | 5’9 | 170 | R | R | |
| 77 | Tonzar Alessandro | Inf/Pit | 05.08.1994 | Redipuglia | 6’1 | 175 | R | R | |
| 5 | Fabbri Lorenzo | Infielder | 09.08.1995 | Rimini | 5’10 | 175 | R | R | |
| 32 | Gasparini Marten | Infielder | 24.05.1997 | Cervignano | 6’0 | 165 | S | R | |
| 86 | Mercuri Mattia | Infielder | 28.08.1994 | Nettuno | 6’1 | 185 | R | R | |
| 83 | Grimaudo Alessandro | Outfielder | 06.09.1993 | Nettuno | 6’1 | 180 | L | R | |
| 26 | Poma Sebastiano | Outfielder | 13.06.1993 | Parma | 6’3 | 185 | L | L | |
| 78 | Valera Joel | Outfielder | 23.02.1996 | Bologna | 5’11 | 185 | S | R | |
| 28 | D’Auria Matteo | Outfielder | 13.09.1994 | Nettuno | 6’0 | 165 | R | R |
1 Comment
MLB has plenty of Italian players in their respective clubs. The Marlins used 3 players – Dan Miceli, Micheal Piazza and Jason Grilli from 1996-2000. Maybe MLB can hire Alex Maestri and Roberto Corradini from the Italian Serie B League effective at the end of August.