Gino Gentile

Eugene Vincent Gentile

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.

• High School Allderdice High School

• Born August 26, 1958 in Pittsburgh, PA USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Gino Gentile played 11 seasons in the minors, including two at AAA, but never reached the majors.

He was picked by his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates in the 32nd round of the 1976 amateur draft and hit .171/.242/.207 that summer for the GCL Pirates but had 7 outfield assists in only 28 games. He tied for 4th among Gulf Coast League outfielders in assists. In 1977, he improved with the GCL Pirates (.279/.347/.382 in 20 G) and hit .348/.423/.435 in six games for the Niagara Falls Pirates. By 1978, he was in a full-season loop, playing for the Charleston Pirates and producing at a .255/.359/.291 clip. He was 9th among Pirates minor leaguers with 59 walks.

Gentile moved to the Boston Red Sox chain that off-season. He hit .267/.368/.376 with 64 walks, 13 steals in 18 tries and 66 runs for the 1979 Winston-Salem Red Sox. He was 5th in the Red Sox system in walks, between Wade Boggs and Jack Sauer. He was also 8th in the Carolina League in walks drawn, between Craig Brooks and Sauer. In 1980, he batted .257/.379/.349 for the Bristol Red Sox, with 69 walks. He had 17 assists and 11 errors. He was second in the Eastern League in assists by an outfielder, one behind Rod Hobbs. He was 5th on the Red Sox farm in walks, between Lee Graham and Juan Pautt.

The Pittsburgher remained in Bristol in 1981 and improved his batting line to .302/.404/.450. He was still only 22 years old for the most of the season and was among the EL leaders in average (6th, between Rusty Hamric and Julio Franco), OBP (5th, between Greg Walker and Al Chambers), OPS (6th, between Chambers and Tony Incaviglia) and outfield errors (11, tied for 4th). Among Red Sox minor leaguers, he was 3rd in average (trailing Boggs and Ed Jurak) and 4th in OBP (between Paul Hundhammer and Pat Dodson). In 1982, he made it to AAA with the Pawtucket Red Sox. Moving to DH (they had Graham, Chico Walker and Garry Hancock as their main outfielders), he hit .292/.371/.504 with 15 homers and 70 RBI; he had never hit more than 8 home runs in a season until that point. He was 5th in the 1982 IL in slugging (between Dan Logan and Hancock). Among Boston minor leaguers, he tied Dodson, Walker and John Ackley for 5th in home runs and ranked third in slugging (after Dave Malpeso and Reggie Whittemore).

A 23-year-old who slugs over .500 in AAA would seemingly have a good shot at the majors but Gentile slipped after that year. In 1983, he hit .227/.304/.326 with 7 homers for Pawtucket. He moved to the Oakland A's chain for 1984 and batted .197/.286/.256 with no home runs in 37 games for the Albany-Colonie A's. He was picked up by the independent Miami Marlins for 1985 and produced at a .232/.328/.355 clip with 16 steals in 24 tries.

He had one more big year left, though. Signed by the Kinston Eagles, then an independent team, he batted .267/.406/.532 with 25 home runs, 94 walks and 85 RBI in 1986; at age 27, he was significantly older than most high-A players (of the regular position players that year, only two were older). He was 4th in the Carolina League in OBP (between Jeff Gardner and Ron Gideon), second in slugging (.017 behind Gregg Jefferies), second in OPS (13 shy of Jefferies), second in home runs (one behind Ron Gant), tied Zoilo Sanchez for 5th in RBI and was third in walks (behind Marcus Lawton and Gideon). He was not picked as the league All-Star DH as Gant was chosen instead.

Returning to the Pirates chain in 1987, he hit .227/.329/.438 with 15 dingers for the Harrisburg Senators. He tied Marty Brown and Lance Belen for 10th in the Eastern League in home runs and tied Belen and Benny Distefano for 5th in the Pirates chain in that department. He was back with Harrisburg in 1988, this time as hitting coach and first base coach rather than as a player. He had batted .257/.359/.394 with 531 runs and 483 RBI in 1,093 minor league games, drawing 554 walks. He fielded .954 with 83 assists in 832 outfield contests.