The promoted club Rangers Redipuglia have added two Italian Baseball League (IBL) veterans to their roster. They signed infielder Jhonny Rafael CARVAJAL and pitcher Hector SENA.
The 33-year-old CARVAJAL is from Barcelona, Venezuela and was a minor leaguer in the Reds, Expos, Diamondbacks and Giants organizations between 1993 and 2003. He had a combined batting average of .259 (OBP .324/SLG .336) in 1181 games over the course of eleven seasons as high as AAA. He is capable of playing shortstop, second and third base. He came to Italy in 2004 and stayed there until 2006. He hit .303 (.366/.422) for Grosseto (2004/2005) and Godo (2006). He signed with the Spanish club San Inazio Bilbao last year and crushed opposing pitching. He led the league with a .449 (.579/.729) batting average, five homeruns, 30 runs scored and 29 RBI in 32 games.
SENA is 29 years old and from the Dominican Republic. His first season in the Italian Serie A1 was in 2005, when he pitched for Trieste. He had a 2-9 record with a solid ERA of 4.11. He struck out 36 in 83.1 innings pitched, walking 42. He returned to the IBL last year. Mainly used as a reliever SENA impressed with a 2-0 record and an ERA of 1.91 for Montepaschi Grosseto. He struck out 29 (13 base on balls) in 23.2 innings pitched. He was so good, that the national champion wanted to extend with him. However both sides didn’t reach an agreement.
The roster for the Rangers is not completed yet. General manager Paolo TONZAR said to baseball.it that they are interested to sign a South American pitcher and an Italian-Canadian outfielder to strengthen the team further.
Statistics
Jhonny CARVAJAL Minor Leagues and Italian Baseball League
Hector SENA Italian Baseball League
