Fulvio Valle

Fulvio Valle

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 181 lb.

• Born April 20, 1966

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Fulvio Valle pitched for the Italian national team for over a decade, including an appearance in the Olympics.

He debuted with Parma in 1984, allowing 12 hits, 8 walks, 7 wild pitches and 8 earned runs in 10 1/3 IP. Despite that rocky start, he was picked for Italy's squad in the 1984 Amateur World Series. He was the team's youngest player, a month and 19 days younger than Marco Fraschetti. Valle made his debut in good form, relieving Paolo Cherubini and closing out a 7-1 loss to the powerful Japanese national team with two shutout frames (1 H, 1 BB). In his other outing in the Series, he was less effective in a 20-19 slugfest loss to the Netherlands Antilles national team, giving up 6 hits, a walk and six runs in 1 1/3 IP.

He was much sharper in his sophomore season. The 19-year-old was 11-3 with two saves and a 3.08 ERA for Parma, missing the Serie A1 top 10 in wins by one. Parma won the pennant. He had a 5.86 ERA and .382 opponent average in three appearances in the 1985 European Championship, as Italy won a Silver Medal. He was 4-1 with a 5.73 ERA for Parma in the regular season in 1986 then was pounded for 15 hits and 11 runs in 2 1/3 IP in the quarterfinals, going 0-1. He did not pitch for Italy's national team that year, the only year he missed from 1984-1993. He went 5-2 with a save and a 5.40 ERA for Parma in 1987 and had a 7.00 ERA in the quarterfinals but went 2-0. He played for Italy in the 1987 Intercontinental Cup but statistics are unavailable.

Valle had a 5-2, 3.61 record in 1988 but again had a rough time in the playoffs (1-3, 6.45). On the other hand, he was outstanding in the 1988 Baseball World Cup, with a 0.52 ERA and .186 opponent average. He allowed only one run in 17 1/3 IP and was second in the event in ERA, behind Charles Nagy and ahead of 13 future major leaguers. He did not make the tourney All-Star team when Jim Abbott and Takehiro Ishii were selected as the pitchers.

In 1989, he improved to 8-3, 2.03 with only 15 walks in 97 1/3 IP. He was three wins shy of leader Rich Olsen and .12 behind ERA leader Paolo Ceccaroli. He also had his best postseason yet to that point: 1-2, Sv, 3.20). He was with Italy for the 1989 Intercontinental Cup (no stats available) and 1989 European Championship (4.82 ERA in 3 G), winning the Gold in the latter event. He was 13-4 with a save and a 3.29 ERA in 1990, tying for 6th in the league in wins. He was 1-0 with a 1.31 ERA in the 1990 Baseball World Cup, again outperforming several future big leaguers (6 of them, with only one ahead of him). He walked none in 20 2/3 IP. He was 4th in the event in ERA, behind another Valle (Lázaro Valle of Cuba), Jesus Feliciano and Osvaldo Fernandez).

The right-hander was 8-3 with a save and a 3.16 ERA in 1991, then was 3-1 with a 4.75 ERA in the postseason as Parma won it all. He got the victory in game 2 of the finals. He allowed 9 hits and 7 runs (4 earned) in 4 2/3 IP in the 1991 Intercontinental Cup but was 1-0 with 8 2/3 shutout innigns (8 K, 0 BB) as Italy won the 1991 European Championship. He was 9-4 with a save and a 5.00 ERA for Parma in '92. He tied former major leaguer Ed Vosberg, former AAA hurler Doug Cinnella and Maurizio De Sanctis for 5th in the loop in wins. In the 1992 Olympics, he was Italy's most-used hurler, leading the team in games pitched (3) and IP (18, 8 over Paolo Ceccaroli) and finishing second in ERA (3.00, behind De Sanctis; the team ERA was 9.49). In his Olympic debut, he relieved De Sanctis with a 8-2 deficit in the 9th against eventual Silver Medalist Taiwan and went 1-2-3 against Kun-Hong Pai, Ming-Hsiung Liao (on a K) and Chung-Yi Huang. He went the distance in a 2-0 loss to Puerto Rico, getting outdueled by Wilfredo Velez. He pitched nine innings against the Dominican national team and left with a 5-5 tie, relieved by Massimiliano Masin, having held his own against two top Latino powers.

Valle posted a 7-2, 3.98 record in the 1993 regular season but 0-2, 6.75 in the postseason. He finished 10th in the league in wins. He was 0-1 with a 5.14 ERA in the 1993 European Championship, losing to the Netherlands as Italy finished second to the Netherlands. He was 0-2 with a 6.39 ERA in the 1993 Intercontinental Cup, dropping decisions against both South Korea and Australia. In 1994, he ended his career in Italy's top loop, going 4-1 but with a 6.97 ERA and .347 opponent average in the regular season and allowing one run in 3 2/3 postseason innings as Parma won it all. He made his last national team appearance in the 1995 European Championship, going 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA and .417 opponent average, losing to the Netherlands as Italy finished second. He pitched three games, tied for second on the staff, two behind Emiliano Ginanneschi.

He finished his career in Italy's top league at 81-36 with 7 saves and a 4.19 ERA in 179 games. He allowed a .275/.332/.375 batting line overall and had a 1.45 ERA; Italy used aluminum bats during his career, leading to high offense levels. Through 2015, he was tied with Dario Bazzarini for 32nd in league history in wins, 50th in IP (971) and tied for 41st in lowest walk rate (with Enzo Lauri and Gaetano Marazzi).

Sources

• Italian Baseball and Softball Federation
• Old IBAF website