Federico Celli

Federico Celli

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 215 lb.

• High School Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale Galileo Galilei

• Born February 15, 1995 in Rimini, Emilia-Romagna Italy

BR register page

Biographical Information

Federico Celli has played in the US and Italy and on the Italian national team.

Celli attended the MLB European Academy in 2011. In the 2012 Italian Baseball League, he made one pitching appearance for Telemarket Rimini, allowing one hit and two unearned runs in 1 1/3 IP. Moving to the field for Rimini in 2013, he was 0 for 1. He hit .333/.458/.722 with 8 runs in 5 games for Italy in the 2013 European U-18 Championship and pitched 2/3 of a shutout inning. He tied for the event lead in doubles (3) and triples (2), tied for second in runs (two behind Marten Gasparini), was 6th in slugging and 7th with 13 total bases. He was only 3 for 20 in the 2013 World Junior Championship, albeit with 3 walks, 2 steals, 4 runs and 3 RBI, scoring two in an upset win over Australia.

In April 2014, he was signed by Los Angeles Dodgers scouts Marco Mazzieri, Bob Engle and Gene Grimaldi. He hit very well in limited time with the AZL Dodgers that summer at .343/.439/.400 in 41 plate appearances. In 2015, he moved into full-season leagues, batting .230/.273/.329 for the Great Lakes Loons and going 2 for 7 with a run, double and two RBI for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. He debuted for the Italian senior national team in the 2015 Premier 12. He went 0 for 7 with a walk and six strikeouts as a backup left fielder. He was Italy's second-youngest player (Ludovico Coveri was younger) and the youngest position player, 7 months younger than Alberto Mineo.

He saw limited action for the 2016 Loons (2 for 22) and Ogden Raptors (3 for 7, 3B) then was released by the Dodgers. He returned to Rimini in time for the playoffs, his first action with his hometown team in three years. He was 1 for 9 in the semifinals but drew two walks and scored three. In the 2016 Italian Series, he hit .267/.333/.313 but Rimini lost to Bologna. In 2017, he got his first full season with Rimini and produced at a .320/.437/.512 clip and was 11-for-16 in steal attempts. He finished 8th in the IBL in slugging (between Mario Chiarini and Paolino Ambrosino), missed the top 10 in OBP by .004 behind Alex Sambucci, tied Juan Carlos Infante for 10th in runs (24), tied for 4th with four home runs, was 7th with 23 walks and tied for second in steals (four behind Carlos Perdomo). He struggled in the 2017 European Champions Cup (2 for 19, 2B, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB), a two-run homer off the Mainz Athletics being the bright spot. He dominated the 2017 Italian Series as Rimini won the title in a sweep of T&A San Marino. He scored the Series' first run, drawing a nine-pitch walk from regular season win and strikeout leader Carlos Quevedo and coming home on a hit by Riccardo Bertagnon; Rimini won 2-1. In game 2, he was 3 for 3 with 3 walks, two steals, two runs, a double and a RBI in a 15-5 romp. In game 3, he scored the tying run in the 5th off Josh Kimborowicz when he singled and Lino Zappone doubled him in; it was another 2-1 win. He had hit .556/.714/.667 for the Series, leading in average (.139 over Mattia Reginato and Freddy Noguera), hits (5, tied with Reginato and Noguera), runs (4, one ahead of Nicola Garbella and Willie Vasquez), walks (5, one ahead of Bertagnon), OBP (.252 ahead of Noguera), OPS and steals (2, tied with Erick Epifano). He was second to Reginato in slugging. He was an easy pick as MVP, the first Italian to win Italian Series MVP since Francesco Imperiali in 2012. Since then, winners had been from the US (Jim Magrane), Venezuela (Guillermo Rodriguez and Osman Marval) and the Dominican Republic (Alexis Candelario).

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