Brett Tamburrino

Brett Paul Tamburrino

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 190 lb.

• Born November 10, 1981 in Melbourne, Victoria Australia

BR Minors page

Brett Tamburrino spent six seasons in the minor leagues and won an Olympic Silver Medal.

Tamburrino made his professional debut with the 1999 GCL Twins, hitting .209/.320/.209 in 14 games, primarily at first base. He batted .143/.217/.143 for the Victoria Aces in the 1999-2000 International Baseball League of Australia. In 2000, he hit .244/.423/.308 for the GCL Twins (49 BB, 27 K in 52 G) and stole 18 bases in 20 tries. He played second base and third base primarily. He also played briefly with the Quad Cities River Bandits, posting a .172/.273/.172 line. He led the Gulf Coast League in walks and scored 43 runs, second on the club behind Justin Morneau's 47.

In 2001, Tamburrino batted .262/.350/.355 as a utility man for Quad Cities. During the 2002 Claxton Shield, the 20-year-old hit .333/.414/.458 and was named MVP of the Championship with a game-winning double in the Grand Final. Back in the US that year, he produced at a .266/.347/.388 rate for Quad Cities as a backup OF-2B. In the 2003 Claxton Shield, he batted .267/.389/.400 and led the event in both runs (9) and steals (3). Unfortunately, he made two errors in the final to let the Queensland Rams win it.

Tamburrino moved up to the Fort Myers Miracle in 2003, hitting .256/.354/.357 in 75 games and going 15-for-18 in steal attempts. In the 2004 Claxton Shield, the Victoria hitter was 3 for 8 with a walk before an injury ended his tournament.

He spent most of 2004 with Fort Myers, posting a batting line of .271/.350/.312 while backing up at all three bases as well as the outfield. He had hit .257/.359/.339 in his US career with 61 steals in 77 tries.

Brett was Australia's primary left fielder in the 2004 Olympics but went just 2 for 16 with 4 walks at the plate, stealing one base. He scored four runs in nine games. As a late substitute in the Gold Medal game (Paul Gonzalez started in left), he singled off Adiel Palma in his lone at-bat in Australia's 6-2 loss to the Cuban national team.

Tamburrino was 2 for 15 with 4 walks and 2 runs in the 2006 Claxton Shield; he did not play in the event in 2005 or 2007.

Sources

• Flintoff & Dunn Australian Baseball Almanac
• 2000-2007 Baseball Almanacs
• Defunct IBAF site