The Venezuelan first baseman with an Italian passport, Jairo Ramos, is expected to join Fortitudo Bologna for the upcoming season in the Italian Baseball League. The 38-year-old apparently already has signed an agreement with Fortitudo according to a report on Baseball.it, but an official announcement wasn’t made yet since there is probably another offer out of Venezuela. However if he stays in Italy, he will play for the 2009 champion.
The left-handed batter Ramos was born in La Guaira, Venezuela and is playing in the IBL since 1998. He only donned the uniform for the Orioles Grosseto. In 592 games in his Italian career he has a .331 batting average (OBP .397/SLG .500) with 72 homeruns, 401 runs and 457 RBI. In 2009 the former Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguer batted .283/.325/.428 in 38 games. Last September he played for Italy in the Baseball World Cup, leading the team with a .409 batting average (OBP .481/SLG .636) in seven games.
There are also some rumors around the Bologna pitching staff for 2010. They are looking to bring back Victor Moreno as reliever to form a formidable duo with Jesus Matos in game one each week, which is reserved for foreign pitchers. A return of Cody Cillo seems still a possibility. He stayed in North America after the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Rene Mazzocchi, a 21-year-old who pitched for the Serie A2 club Latina in 2009, is also in consideration to join the Fortitudo staff. He had a 5-5 record with an ERA of 3.41 in 17 games (14 starts) last year. He struck out 120 batters in 89 2/3 innings, walking 53.
Photo: © Ratti/FIBS
