Gianguido Poma

Gianguido Poma

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born January 8, 1962

Biographical Information

Gianguido Poma played for 12 seasons in Serie A1 and was a frequent member of the Italian national team. His son Sebastiano Poma later played for the Italian national team as well.

Gianguido debuted in 1982 with Fortitudo Bologna and hit .223/.318/.241 in the regular season but showcased good speed (9 SB, 3 CS, 23 R in 27 G), while fielding .892 at short. He was 8th in the league in steals. In 1983, he batted .456/.818/1.166 in Girone B and .316/.415/.465 with 43 runs and 21 steals (in 24 tries) over 39 games in the championship pool. He tied Paul Gagliano for 2nd in swipes, five behind Lyle Brackenridge. In 1984, he hit .277/.367/.434 with 23 runs and 12 steals (never caught) in 20 games in the eastern league and .220/.301/.315 in 34 games in the championship pool. During 1985, he moved to Parma and produced at a .423/.469/.672 clip with fielding .920 at short. He scored 67 runs in 45 games, rapped 17 doubles, homered 9 times and was 13-for-14 in steals. In a high-scoring season in the heart of the aluminum bat era, he failed to make the leaderboards.

He debuted for the national team in the 1985 European Championship, splitting short with Massimo Fochi and backing up Gabriele Messori at 2B for the Silver Medalists. He hit .188/.235/.219 with 4 runs in 7 games, fielding .923 at SS and .900 at 2B. In 1986 Serie A1, he batted .337/.390/.547 with 46 runs and 16 doubles in 40 games for Parma, then hit .235/.316/.471 with 5 runs in 4 games in the quarterfinals. He was 6th in runs and tied for 3rd in doubles. He did well in the 1986 Amateur World Series, hitting .283/.327/.478 with 11 runs in 11 games while fielding .956 as Italy's shortstop. He tied Marco Mazzieri for 3rd on the team in runs. During 1987, he hit .326/.364/.461 in the regular season for Parma and .310/.323/.483 with 8 RBI in 7 games in the quarterfinals. In the 1987 European Championship, he eked out a .148/.179/.222 line in the 1987 European Championship but fielded .964 while starting at short for the Silver Medalists.

In 1988, he had perhaps his best season: .401/.439/.834, 17 2B, 15 HR, 49 R, 55 RBI in 35 G. He then hit .350/.435/.550 with 7 RBI in 5 quarterfinals games and .414/.433/.724 with 2 homers and 6 RBI in 7 games in the semifinals. He was second in the northern league in the regular season in runs (3 behind Alessandro Gaiardo), second in RBI (one behind Giuseppe Carelli), led in hits (63, two ahead of Gaiardo), led in doubles (one ahead of Gaiardo) and tied Stefano Manzini for the home run lead. He was one of Italy's top hitters in the 1988 Baseball World Cup at .241/.333/.448 with 7 runs and 6 RBI in 9 games. He tied Clauddio Cecconi for 3rd on the team in runs and only Carelli had a higher slugging percentage. He had no errors in 30 chances at 2B (split with Cecconi) and fielded .833 while backing up Messori at short.

Poma hit .361/.423/.515 with 42 runs, 14 doubles and 40 RBI in 42 games in the regular season in 1989. He was 4th in the northern league in hits (between Rick Richardi and Claudio Corradi), tied Davide Bassi and Eric Erickson for 2nd in doubles, was 3rd in runs (after Richardi and Nezi Balelo) and tied Carelli for 2nd in RBI. In the quarterfinals, he batted .407/.484/.444 and in the semifinals, he hit .200/.400/.267. He did not make the Italian squad for the 1989 European Championship. In 1990, he split short with Fochi for Parma and split second with Raffaello Silvestri). He batted .306/.411/.478 with 34 walks, 20 doubles, 9 steals and 56 runs in 55 contests, tying Bassi for 10th in two-baggers. In his final stint with the national team, he and Fochi manned second for Italy in the 1990 Baseball World Cup; he was 3 for 15 with no walks or extra-base hits while handling 6 putouts and 10 assists error-free.

With Fochi back at 2B for Parma in the 1991 Serie A, Poma was full-time pretty much at SS. He hit .304/.430/.416 in the regular season with 35 runs and 24 walks in 33 games while fielding .941 at short. He tied 3 others for 8th in the league in runs and tied Marco Ubani for 8th in walks. In the quarterfinals, he was 2 for 8 with a double, walk, two runs and a RBI then hit .316/.350/.316 in the semifinals and .154/.267/.385 in the 1991 Italian Series, albeit with 4 runs in 3 games. Parma won their first title in six years and their first in the Italian Series era.

The veteran produced at a .344/.423/.397 clip in 1992 with 25 runs in 30 games, fielding .919 at short. He struggled in the semifinals, with more errors (4) than hits (3 in 17 AB). His last season with Parma was 1993, when he hit .308/.424/.500 with 30 runs and 20 walks in 29 games, fielding .917 at SS. He was 2 for 16 with a walk and 3 runs in the semifinals. He returned briefly in 1999 with Collecchio, going 11 for 31 with a double, 3 walks, 3 runs and 3 RBI to show he could still hit at age 37.

He ended his career in Italy's top loop with a .327/.403/.495 batting line and over a run (553) per game (546). He had 142 doubles, 63 homers, 402 RBI, 268 walks, 123 steals in 154 tries and a .908 fielding percentage. While he benefited from playing in the aluminum bat era, he still ranks among Italy's career leaders (through 2015, the most recent season the FIBS site has been updated as of 1/9/19) in runs (tied for 34th with Alberto Rinaldi), hits (tied for 48th with Alberto Tondini at 730), doubles (tied for 40th with Giuseppe Massellucci), triples (21, tied for 42nd with Alessandro Bianchi, Giacomo Golfera, Francesco Casolari, Jorge Nunez and Paolo Catanzani), RBI (46th, between Davide Dallospedale and Stefano Bernicchia), steals (tied for 41st with Claudio Cattani, Juan Carlos Infante and Enrico Vecchi), homers (tied for 39th with Carlos Guzmán), OBP (43rd, between Ubani and Mazzieri), slugging (31st, between Claudio Liverziani and Ruggero Bagialemani), average (21st, between Liverziani and Guzmán), steal percentage (25th, between Vecchi and Daniel Newman) and OPS (29th, between Federico Bassi and Guglielmo Trinci).

He managed Italy in the 2015 U-18 Baseball World Cup. He became manager of Parma in 2018 Serie A1, leading them to the 2018 Italian Series, where they fell to Bologna; one of his players was his son Sebastiano.

Primary Source: Italian Baseball and Softball Federation