Andrea Sgnaolin

Andrea Sgnaolin

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born January 20, 1984 in Viterbo, Viterbo Italy

Biographical Information

Andrea Sgnaolin has played for the Italian national team.

Sgnaolin debuted as a baseball player with his hometown Viterbo in Serie A2. He appeared for Italy in the 2000 World Junior Championship, batting a team-high .400. He was back with them for the 2002 World Junior Championship, hitting .286/.483/.286 as their shortstop and drawing 7 walks in 7 games. In the 2002 Intercontinental Cup, he made his senior national team debut, going 1 for 3 and being used mostly as a defensive substitute for SS Igor Schiavetti.

In 2003, Andrea made his Serie A1 debut with Profumerie La Gardenia Grosseto and hit .195/.248/.260 as their lightest offensive threat; he fielded .918 at short. In the 2003 Baseball World Cup, he went 0 for 1 and played one inning at shortstop, backing up Seth La Fera. He played one game in the 2003 European Championship but did not bat. In 2004, Sgnaolin became Grosseto's utility infielder and only batted .154/.230/.244.

Sgnaolin hit .222/.275/.278 as the primary second baseman for 2005 Grosseto, fielding .984 there. In the 2006 campaign, Sgnaolin improved to .272/.311/.367 in a similar capacity. In the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, Andrea was 0 for 2 as La Fera's backup; he made an error in one of five chances at short in his defensive sub role.

In 2007, Sgnaolin batted .221/.290/.257 and fielded .895 for Grosseto; in the finals, he had almost as many errors (2) as hits (3) while batting .130 but Grosseto prevailed in 7 games to win the title. Sgnaolin was on the initial Italian roster for the 2007 Baseball World Cup but was later removed.

In the 2008 European Cup hosted by Grosseto, Sganolin hit .214/.400/.286 and fielded .857. He drove in both of his team's runs in their 2-0 win over the Royal Greys. In the finale, he singled home Gabriele Ermini in the 10th while facing Michiel van Kampen for a 2-1 lead but Linc Mikkelsen failed to protect the lead and lost the game. He was 0 for 7 with an error in the 2008 European Cup Final Four that fall.

Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
• Baseball.it
• 2008 European Cup in Grosseto
• 2003 European Championship stats
• 2008 European Cup Final Four
• 2001 Baseball Almanac

[[Category:Births in 1984