Youth baseball continues to progress in Italy

The Tournament of the European Baseball Academies that took place over the last couple of weeks turned out to be quite the success. In the 20 games that were played the young talents that were put on display showed exactly what they have been chosen to do. Dan Bonanno (Major League Baseball Consultant) was very pleased with the tournaments success and of all the teams that were involved. “We’re very satisfied, the competition was great and we got exactly what we were looking for in the young ballplayers that participated in the event. All the scouts on hand seemed to be very pleased with what they saw.” The Italian’s that made an impact in the tournament on the mound were Fabiani, Zotti, Colantonio, Scotti, and Clemente, as they all showed consistent improvement throughout. With the bat it was Colagrossi and Celli that impressed, while Fabbri impressed with the glove on ‘D’. With this all said, it was that impressed the scouts the most, in particular the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the Californian organization signed the young Italian outfielder to minor league deal.

As work continues to improve the level of ball in Italy, the concentration is moving more and more towards the development of youth with a keen eye on the future. Opening this year in Northwester Piemonte was the second Italian Baseball Academy that will begin to work on the young ballplayers in the region. 16 in all will be with the academy in 2014, ranging in ages from 13 to 17, while in year 2 the project is expected to grow to a total of 23 student athletes. With the continuous work amongst the youth across Italy names such as Alex Liddi and Alessandro Maestri wont be so far apart in the near future, thanks to more and more dreaming about the MLB.