Alex Maestri

Alessandro Maestri (born June 1, 1985, in Cesena, Italy) is an Italian professional baseball player. A pitcher, the 5'11", 180 lb. right-hander signed with the Chicago Cubs as a non-drafted free agent on Jan. 6, 2006, making him the first Italian-born pitcher to be signed by a Major League Baseball team.^[1] Maestri currently plays for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Early career

Born in Cesena, Maestri grew up in Viserba, a suburb near Rimini. He played in the Italian minor leagues for Torre Pedrera. In 2005 he played with San Marino Baseball in the Italian Baseball League, the highest league in Italy.

Italy national team

Maestri was signed by Cubs scout Bill Holmberg, who also serves as pitching coach for the Italy national baseball team for whom Maestri pitched in both the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic. Maestri gave up one earned run in two appearances out of the bullpen in the 2006 WBC. In 2009, Maestri pitched 2.2 innings without giving up a run.^[2]

Chicago Cubs organization

Early in the 2007 season, Maestri's second season of professional ball with the Class A Peoria Chiefs, he gave up seven runs in two innings against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. From that point on, he did not give up more than two runs in an appearance for the rest of the season, and converted his first seven save opportunities to earn himself a Midwest League All-Star nod.

His success in 2007 prompted the Cubs to try to convert Maestri into a starter. Thus, he began the 2008 season in the starting rotation of the Florida State League Class A advanced Daytona Cubs. In this role, he went 5-3 with a 3.69 ERA to again earn himself an All Star nod. Following the all star game, Maestri was promoted to the double A Southern League Tennessee Smokies. With the Smokies, Maestri made two starts in which he pitched 11 innings and gave up eight earned runs before shoulder soreness forced the Cubs to shut him down for the remainder of the season, and ended the Cubs' experiment with Maestri as a starter.^[3]

The Cubs released Maestri in April 2011,^[4] and he signed with the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball.^[5]

Brisbane Bandits

On November 5, 2011, Maestri made his Australian Baseball League debut with the Brisbane Bandits. Starting against the Canberra Cavalry, Maestri went five innings and gave up two hits, picking up the first win of the Bandits' 2011-12 season. His performances earned him a spot with Team World at the 2011 Australian Baseball League All-Star Game. Maestri pitched a scoreless inning in the game. Maestri continued the season as the Bandits' ace, finishing third highest in the league in strikeouts and innings pitched. The Bandits ended the half a game short of the playoffs, with Maestri posting a 3.25 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP en route to winning the ABL's Fan Choice Award.

2012

Maestri played portions of 2012 for the Rimini Baseball Club and the Kagawa Olive Guyners of Japan's Shikoku Island League. He then signed with the Orix Buffaloes.

Orix Buffaloes

Maestri signed with the Orix Buffaloes prior to the 2012 season.

References

↑ "Minor League Baseball". Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
↑ "World Baseball Classic Team Italy Page". Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
↑ "Cubs' Maestri a rarity on Team Italy". Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
↑ Eddy, Matt. "Minor League Transactions: March 30-April 5." Baseball America. April 7, 2011. Accessed April 25, 2011.
↑ "Chicago Cubs release Alex Maestri, stays in US." Mister-Baseball. April 11, 2011. Accessed April 25, 2011.

External links

Career statistics and player information from Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Italy 2006 World Baseball Classic roster

1 Jack Santora 3 Jim Buccheri 4 Frank Menechino 6 Tony Giarratano 13 John Mangieri 14 Matt Ceriani 15 Vince Sinisi 17 Alex Maestri 18 Mark Saccomanno 20 Tom Gregorio 22 Tony Fiore 24 Dustin Delucchi 25 Pete Zoccolillo 26 Jairo Ramos Gizzi 27 Frank Catalanotto 28 Fabio Milano 31 Mike Piazza 34 Davide Dallospedale 35 Valentino Pascucci 36 Marc Lamacchia 37 David Rollandini 38 Todd Incantalupo 40 Kasey Olemberger 42 Claudio Liverziani 43 Riccardo De Santis 45 Mike Gallo 49 Jason Grilli 53 Philip Barzilla 55 Lenny DiNardo 58 Dan Miceli

Manager Matt Galante

Italy 2009 World Baseball Classic roster

2 Leonardo Zileri 3 Jack Santora 4 Mike Costanzo 8 Nick Punto 9 Andrea De Santis 10 Vinny Rottino 14 Alex Liddi 15 Mark DiFelice 17 Alex Maestri 18 B. J. LaMura 19 Chris Denorfia 20 Peter Ciofrone 27 Frank Catalanotto 28 Cody Cillo 29 Dan Serafini 30 Kasey Olemberger 34 Davide Dallospedale 35 Chris Cooper 37 Valentino Pascucci 40 Roberto Corradini 42 Tiago da Silva 45 Mario Chiarini 47 Giuseppe Mazzanti 49 Jason Grilli 50 Luca Panerati 54 Adam Ottavino 55 Lenny DiNardo 64 Francisco Cervelli

Manager 5 Marco Mazzieri Coach 21 Mike Hargrove Coach 26 Tom Trebelhorn Coach 23 Alberto D'Auria Coach 1 William Holmberg Coach 31 Mike Piazza Coach 33 Gilberto Gerali

Italy 2013 World Baseball Classic roster

1 Jack Santora 3 Anthony Granato 4 Mike Costanzo 6 Juan Carlos Infante 8 Nick Punto 10 Lorenzo Avagnina 11 Chris Denorfia 16 Alex Liddi 17 Alex Maestri 18 Alessandro Vaglio 19 Brian Sweeney 20 Pat Venditte 21 Marco Grifantini 25 Chris Colabello 28 Nick Pugliese 29 Dan Serafini 30 Chris Cooper 32 Tyler LaTorre 33 John Mariotti 34 Luca Panerati 35 Tiago da Silva 39 Jason Grilli 41 Drew Butera 43 Matt Torra 44 Anthony Rizzo 45 Mario Chiarini 48 Tim Crabbe 50 Stefano Desimoni

Manager Marco Mazzieri Pitching Coach William Holmberg Coach Frank Catalanotto Coach Alberto D'Auria Coach Gilberto Gerali Coach Mike Piazza Coach Tom Trebelhorn

Orix Buffaloes current roster

Active roster	1 Hiroyuki Nakajima 2 Takuya Hara 3 Ryoichi Adachi 4 Brent Morel 6 Yūma Mune 7 Yoshio Itoi 8 Shunta 10 Kohji Ohshiro 11 Takahiro Matsuba 12 Kohdai Sano 13 Shunichi Satoh 14 Kazumasa Yoshida 15 Tatsuya Satoh 16 Yoshihisa Hirano 17 Sachiya Yamasaki 18 Mamoru Kishida 19 Chihiro Kaneko 20 Daisuke Kondoh 21 Yuki Nishi 22 Hikaru Ito 23 Torai Fushimi 24 Yūki Miyazaki 26 Daiki Tohmei 27 Daiki Aoyama 28 Satoshi Komatsu 29 Brian Bogusevic 30 Kyohei Iwasaki 31 Eiichi Koyano 32 Brandon Dickson 33 Takuya Shimada 34 Masataka Yoshida 35 Motoki Higa 36 Ban Takagi 37 Kenya Wakatsuki 38 Shūhei Kojima 39 Masahiro Nishino 40 Kohei Suzuki 42 Tony Blanco 43 Seiichi Sakayori 45 Toshio Saitoh 46 Takayoshi Kawabata 47 Tomoyuki Kaida 48 Kohki Saitoh 49 Hirokazu Shiranita 50 Yūya Oda 52 Erik Cordier 53 Yūto Yoshida 54 Yūki Tsutsumi 55 T-Okada 56 Kengo Takeda 57 Nobuyoshi Yamada 58 Ryuta Kadoya 59 Shohei Tsukahara 60 Ken Akama 61 Kyo Okunami 62 Katsuki Yamazaki 63 Issei Nakamura 64 Shota Morimoto 65 Kazuki Kondoh 66 Ryo Yoshida 67 Sena Satoh 68 Yū Suzuki 69 Satoshi Ohyama 97 Daisuke Tanaka 99 Yutaro Sugimoto 120 Takayuki Tsukada (Trainee) 121 Kosuke Akamatsu (Trainee) 124 Satoshi Sonobe (Trainee) 125 Ryo Toda (Trainee)

Coaching staff	Manager 88 Junichi Fukura

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, December 26, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.