With the sponsor search to be resolved next week the Grosseto Orioles finally are able to add Luis Maza to the roster for the 2011 season in the Italian Baseball League according to a report by Baseball.it on Saturday. The 30-year-old Venezuelan is going to take over at short after fellow former Major Leaguers Abraham Nunez (apparently is going to Japan) and Tomas Perez (elbow injury) had to opt out of agreements.
Maza was signed by the Minnesota Twins organization in 1997. After not getting to the big leagues with the organization he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers ten years later and made his MLB debut in 2008. That year he played in a total of 45 games, batting .228/.282/.278 with one homerun, seven runs and four RBI. It was his lone season in the Majors. In 2010 he split time with the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros organizations.
Overall Maza had a .282/.345/.411 batting line in 1,090 minor league games, 476 of them at the Triple-A level. In 2009 he played for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.