(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball)
 Former Major Leaguer Jorge Posada joins Italian WBC coaching-staff
Nederlands
 ROME (Italy) -
The Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball (FIBS) on Thursday (January 15) announced that former New York Yankees-catcher Jorge Posada will be part of the coaching-staff of the Italian Baseball Team during the upcoming World Baseball Classic in March.
...Former Major Leaguer Jorge Posada...
...coach of Italy...
(© Photo: Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball) |
In the First Round of the Classic, Italy will play in Pool B (March 6-11) with Brazil, Great Britain, Mexico and the USA.
The games in this Pool will be played in Daikin Park, the home of Major League-team Houston Astros in Houston, Texas (USA).
Italy will play its first game on March 7 against Brazil.
In the week before, Italy will play two exhibition-games in Arizona.
On March 3, Italy meets Chicago Cubs in Mesa and on March 4, Los Angeles Angels will be the opponent in Tempe.
The following day, the team will fly from Phoenix to Houston.
Pool A (March 6-11) is comprised of Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Panama and Puerto Rico.
Games will be played in Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan (Puerto Rico).
Playing in Pool C (March 5-10) are Australia, Chinese Taipei, Czechia, Japan (reigning champion) and South Korea in the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo (Japan).
The Dominican Republic, Israel, the Netherlands, Nicaragua and Venezuela play in Pool D (March 6-11) in LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.
Jorge Posada played his entire 17-year Major League-career (1995-2011) with New York Yankees.
The switch-hitter played in 1,829 games and collected 1,664 basehits, including 275 homeruns.
Posada scored 900 runs, batted in 1,065 and finished with a .273 career batting average.
With New York, Posada won the World Series four times (1998, 1999, 2000, 2009).
The Puerto Rican catcher (Cuban father, Dominican mother) played in five All-Star Games (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007).
In the same five seasons, he appeared in these games, Posada also won the Silver Slugger Award.
In 2015, Posada's uniform-number 20 was retired.
Jorge Posada is considered one of the best offensive and defensive catchers.
He is one of five Major League-catchers with at least 1,500 basehits, 350 doubles, 275 homeruns and 1,000 RBI's in a career.
In the upcoming World Baseball Classic, Posada will be a member of the Italian coaching-staff, which will be led by Francisco Cervelli, who was named Manager a year ago.
Like Posada, Cervelli also is a former Major League-catcher.
Venezuelan/Italian Cervelli (Italian father, Venezuelan mother) played in 13 Major League-seasons (2008-2020) and was a teammate of Posada in 2008-2011.
Both were on the Yankees-team that won the World Series in 2009.
Cervelli played for New York Yankees (2008-2014), Pittsburgh Pirates (2015-2019), Atlanta Braves (2019) and Miami Marlins (2020).
Coincidentally, Cervelli's predecessor as Italian Manager also was a former Major League-catcher, Mike Piazza.
He led the Azzurri during several tournaments in 2021-2024.
In his 16-year Major League-career (1992-2007), Piazza played for Los Angeles Dodgers (1992-1998), Florida Marlins (1998), New York Mets (1998-2005), San Diego Padres (2006) and Oakland Athletics (2007).
He was the Rookie of the Year in the National League in 1993 and was selected for twelve All-Star Games.
In 2016, Piazza was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
(January 15)
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