The FIBS Academy in Tirrenia, Italy isn’t closed over the winter. At the moment several players are working out twice a day to stay sharp and to prepare for the upcoming 2009 season. Alessandro Maestri, Luca Panerati, Matteo Pizziconi, Marco Sabbatani, Luca Lomonte, Paolino Ambrosino, Erik Gelli and Alex Liddi are in Tirrenia on their own expense. They start every day around 8am in the morning for their first work out. In the afternoon session at 3pm they are joined by four Academy residents, who have to attend school in the morning.
We now want to take a look how these players fared during the 2008 season.
Alessandro Maestri started the year in High A for the Daytona Cubs and was promoted to Double A Tennessee at the beginning of the second half of the season. However after two starts there he got injured and was shut down for the year. At High A the 23-year-old posted a 5-3 record with an ERA of 3.69 and 66 strikeouts in 78 innings, while walking 27. One level higher he allowed eight runs on 14 hits in eleven innings (ERA 6.55). It was his first year as a fulltime starter, since starting his pro career in the USA in 2006 as a reliever.
Alex Liddi is the second established Italian Minor League player. He is in the Seattle Mariners organization and started at third base for the Single A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Midwest League. In 125 games he batted .244 (OBP .313/SLG .388) with six homeruns, four triples, 26 doubles, 65 runs and 53 RBI. The 19-year-old stole 17 bases in 23 attempts.
The two were joined in the US by two young pitchers this year. Luca Panerati and Matteo Pizziconi joined the Cincinnati Reds organization this summer and played for the Gulf Coast League affiliate (Rookie) in 2008. Panerati is 18 years old and appeared in ten games. He had a 1-0 record with an ERA of 2.84 and eight K’s in 19 innings pitched, while walking three. Pizziconi (3-0) had an impressive 0.70 ERA in his debut year in 25 2/3 innings. The 18-year-old struck out 15 and walked eleven.
Besides the quartet the other four players are not that high on the radar yet. Catcher Marco Sabbatani (19 years old) and shortstop Erik Gelli (19 years old) played for Italy at the Under-21 European Championship in Pamplona this September, when they lost in the finals against host Spain. Sabbatani batted .333 (.368/.389) with five RBI in five games. Gelli managed just a batting average of .176 (.222/.412), but hit a homerun, scored four times and drove in five. Liddi, Panerati and Pizziconi also were on the squad. Sabbatani and Gelli are also teammates at ITALMET MARINA BASEBALL of the Serie A2. Gelli batted .252 (.313/.359) with 21 runs scored and 17 RBIs in 29 games. Sabbatani had a batting average of .274 (.326/.321) with 15 runs scored and eleven RBIs in 26 games.
Luca Lomonte and Paolino Ambrosino each smelled a bit Italian Baseball League air. Left-handed pitcher Lomonte appeared in one game for TELEMARKET RIMINI during the regular season and allowed two hits and two walks in two scoreless innings. Outfielder Ambrosino started in 18 of his 29 appearances for DANESI NETTUNO, batting .171 (.293/.229) with one homerun, a double, eleven runs scored and eight RBIs.