The Italian Baseball League club Cariparma completed his Offseason with the acquisition of a new catcher. They announced that former six-game Major Leaguer Pascual MATOS joins the team for the upcoming season.
He was born on December 23 1974 in Barahona, Dominican Republic. He signed with the Atlanta Braves as a non-drafted free agent in 1992. He made his big league debut on May 11th 1999 against the San Francisco Giants. He saw playing time in six games, getting one hit and two RBI in eight at-bats.
After his release in 2000 MATOS signed with the New York Yankees, Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox organizations, but never reached the Major League level again. Between 1992 and 2006 he appeared in 837 Minor League games, as high as AAA. He had a combined batting average of .226 (OBP .255/SLG .356).
In 2007 he played for Yuma in the Independent Golden League, hitting .261 (.298/.369) with six homeruns, 29 runs scored and 28 RBI in 53 games.
Parma also confirmed that the Italian national team outfielder Laidel CHAPELLI will leave the club and is joining the Serie B team Padova. He batted .300 (.336/.557) with six homeruns, 18 runs scored and 34 RBI in 33 games in 2007.
They are open the season on April 19th on the road with a series against Telemarket Rimini. Parma had finished in first place (28-14) after the regular season in 2007, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, losing in seven games against Danesi Nettuno.