Alessandro Vaglio

Alessandro Vaglio

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 160 lb.

• Born January 28, 1989 in Montefiascone Italy

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Alessandro Vaglio was the 2013 Italian Baseball League MVP.

He hit .429/.500/.476 with 5 runs and 5 RBI in five games for Italy in the 2007 European Junior Championship. He made his Italian Baseball League debut in 2010, batting .204/.299/.233 as the regular second baseman for Grosseto. Despite that inauspicious debut, Vaglio was named to the Italian national team for the 2010 Intercontinental Cup and was used as their main second baseman. He hit .238/.273/.238 and fielded .968; his 5 RBI (all with two outs) tied Juan Carlos Infante and Jairo Ramos Gizzi for the team lead. He bunted into an error to score fellow youngster Alex Sambucci with the go-ahead run in a 5-2 win over South Korea, then singled off Jung-hyuk Im to score Juan Pablo Angrisano in the 8th. In the 6-2 loss to Taiwan, his single off Wei-Lun Pan scored Laidel Chapelli and Angrisano wit hthe only Italian runs. He also had a two-run single off Cuba's hard-throwing Vladimir García. He was 0 for 3 with a walk hitting 8th in the Bronze Medal game as Italy topped Taiwan, 4-3, for their first medal ever in a major global baseball tournament.

Vaglio's offensive game picked up somewhat in 2011 (.247/.301/.275) and he won a Gold Glove after fielding .985 at 2B. Moving to Fortitudo Bologna in 2012, he produced at a .340/.400/.447 clip with 25 runs and 27 RBI in 42 games. He won another Gold Glove (though he fielded .967) though Francesco Imperiali beat him out for All-Star honors at 2B despite worse offensive numbers. He finished among the Italian Baseball League leaders in average (6th, between Gabriele Ermini and Joe Persichina), hits (54, 7th) and hit-by-pitch (7, tied for second behind Joe Mazzuca). He was unimpressive (5 for 28, 3 BB, SB, HR, 2 E, 3 R, 3 RBI) in the 2013 European Cup but Bologna won. In the Gold Medal game, he hit into a Luca Martone error to score Infante with a run in a 4-3 victory. He played for Italy in the 2012 European Championship, doing very well. He went 9 for 19 with a double, four runs and a RBI while playing error-free ball as Italy won the title.

Alessandro was a backup for Italy in the 2013 World Baseball Classic as major leaguer Nick Punto was used as the main second baseman. Vaglio got into two games. He was a 9th-inning substitute at 2B in a 6-5 win over Mexico, handling the game-ending grounder from Jorge Cantú with the bases loaded. In a 6-2 loss to Team USA, he replaced Punto in the 7th inning and flew out against Ross Detwiler in his lone at-bat. He had one putout that game.

In the 2013 European Cup, he started very slowly (2 for 17, 2 R, RBI, 3 HBP, E). In the finale of the Regensburg pool, though, he was the hero, going 4 for 5 with a run and two RBI. In the bottom of the 9th, he singled off Darwin Cubillan to drive in Claudio Liverziani with the winner. He was named MVP of the Regensburg phase on the strength of that last game. In the Cup Finals, he was 1 for 6 with two walks, a run and a RBI as Bologna beat Telemarket Rimini to become the European champion. That would be even bigger when the 2013 Asia Series decided to invite the champions of the European Cup to participate. In the Asia Series, he was 2 for 6 with a double, walk and a run as Bologna's top offensive performer.

Vaglio was also very good in the Italian Baseball League campaign of 2013, hitting .400/.476/.576 with 36 runs and 42 RBI, though he was just 3 for 17 in the semifinals as Bologna was eliminated. He finished among the IBL leaders in average (3rd behind Alex Romero and Carlos Duran), OBP (6th, between Vinicio Sparagna and Duran), slugging (3rd behind Romero and Duran), OPS (3rd behind Romero and Duran), runs (tied for 5th with Leonardo Zileri and Willie Vasquez), hits (59, 2nd to Romero), doubles (12, tied for 4th), homers (4, tied for 8th with Sambucci) and RBI (1st by one over Romero). He easily beat out outfielders Romero and Duran for the MVP, getting 55% of the first-place votes.

Sources

• Baseball.it
• CEB
• 2010 Intercontinental Cup rosters
• 2010 Intercontinental Cup Final Report
• World Baseball Classic
• 2013 Asia Series
• Mister Baseball