Craig Italiano

Thomas Craig Italiano

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 190 lb.
• High School Flower Mound High School

• Born July 22, 1986 in Cleveland, OH USA

BR Minors page

Biographical information

Craig Italiano was a professional baseball pitcher from 2005 to 2011. He was named a top-30 prospect in his teams' minor league systems by Baseball America five times, but he never reached the major leagues.

Italiano was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the second round (53rd overall) in the 2005 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Blake Davis for a bonus of $725,000.

Italiano began his professional career in 2005, pitching for the AZL Athletics. He went 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA in six games (three starts).

Baseball America ranked him the #7 prospect in the Athletics system going into 2006. In 2006, Italiano pitched for the Kane County Cougars, going 0-1 with a 3.50 ERA in four starts. He pitched for the Cougars again in 2007, going 0-3 with a 12.71 ERA in six starts.

He split the 2008 season between Kane County and the Stockton Ports. He performed very well for the Cougars, going 7-0 with a 1.16 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 14 games started. With the Ports, however, he did not pitch as well - he went only 1-4 with a 9.90 ERA in 14 games (five starts).

Italiano began the 2009 season with the Ports, going 5-6 with a 5.63 ERA in 16 starts. On July 5, he was traded with Ryan Webb and a player to be named later to the Padres for Scott Hairston. The PTBNL ended up being Sean Gallagher. He finished the season with the Lake Elsinore Storm, going 0-1 with a 1.44 ERA in 19 relief appearances for them. Overall, he went 5-7 with a 4.42 ERA in 35 games (16 starts). In 2010, he was 4-6 with a 2.58 ERA in 47 games for the San Antonio Missions and in 2011, he was 6-1 with a 5.86 ERA in 59 games between the Missions and Triple-A Tucson Padres. In his only taste of Triple-A action, he had a 20.25 ERA in 4 relief appearances.

Overall, Italiano went 24-24 with a 4.70 ERA in 187 games (48 starts).