Francesco Cozzolino

Francesco Cozzolino

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lb.

• Born January 30, 1991 in Latina, Latina Italy

Francesco Cozzolino has pitched in the Italian Baseball League.

Cozzolino allowed one run in four innings in the 2007 European Junior Championship, striking out five and walking four for the Gold Medalists. He was 1 for 1 with a run. In the 2008 World Junior Championship, Francesco went 2 for 2 with 3 walks in Italy's win over the Czech Republic. In the 9th/10th place game, he was 4 for 5 but Italy lost to the Netherlands. In the 2009 European Junior Championship, he had a 10.12 ERA with 7 hits in 15 opponent at-bats and five runs (3 earned) in 2 2/3 IP. In his lone start against France, he was badly roughed up. Italy still won Gold; Cozzolino easily had their highest ERA.

For his hometown Latina club in the 2009 Serie A2, the 18-year-old was 2-4 with a 4.80 ERA and 42 walks in 50 2/3 IP. He moved up to the Italian Baseball League in 2010, debuting for the Godo Knights on April 3. He promptly walked three and threw a wild pitch in his inning, allowing two runs. Cozzolino rebounded from there to go 0-3 with a 3.96 ERA as a rookie, though he walked 25 in 25 innings. He also participated in the MLB European Academy that year.

He joined Parma in 2011. In the 2011 European Cup's Parma phase, Cozzolino started one game, but was hit for four runs and five hits in three innings against the Rouen Huskies (Joris Bert drove in all four). Parma rallied to win after Cozzolino was yanked, as the bullpen pitched scoreless ball. For the event, his ERA was four times higher than any other Parma pitcher (Mihai Burlea and Roberto Corradini were next).

Sources

• Italian Baseball Federation
• Confederation of European Baseball
• Baseball.it