Giovanni Pantaleoni

Giovanni Pantaleoni

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 179 lb.

• Born March 16, 1978 in Cupramontana Italy

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Giovanni Pantaleoni is a former Olympic performer.

Pantaleoni hit .293/.341/.336 as a rookie for Caserta BC in 1998 and fielded .941 at shortstop, his primary position. He was 0-1 with two saves and a 5.17 ERA with 19 strikeouts and 13 walks in 15 2/3 IP. In '99, he fielded just .889 at short with 21 errors in 34 games; he hit .228/.266/.315. He had a 1-0, 7.00 record in four games as a pitcher.

Pantaleoni moved to the Rimini club for 2000. He produced at a .228/.281/.307 rate while being used as a utility infielder. In '01, he hit .315/.378/.451 with 36 runs in 43 games despite not having a set position.

That kind of performance earned the 23-year-old a spot on the Italian national team. He hit .321/.406/.500 and played error-free defense in the 2001 European Championship for the Bronze Medal winners. During the 2001 Baseball World Cup, he went 2 for 14 while splitting third base duties with Francesco Imperiali. He had 3 errors in 13 chances at the hot corner.

The Cupramontana native's batting line for Rimini in 2002 was .294/.348/.392 while fielding .898 at third base, where he was now a starter. He was 2 for 8 with two walks as a backup center fielder for Italy in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup.

In 2003, Pantaleoni improved to a .915 fielding percentage at 3B. He hit .322/.382/.468 with 47 runs in 51 games. He was 7th in Serie A1 in runs scored.

Giovanni batted .240/.269/.320 as Italy's center fielder in the 2003 Baseball World Cup. He hit .440/.559/.600 in the 2003 European Championship, finishing among the tourney leaders in OBP (second to AAA player Sharnol Adriana), average (4th behind Adriana, Erik Pappas and Maxim Yudaev), 3rd in slugging (behind Pappas and Ian Young), tied for 6th in runs (6), tied for first in doubles (4, even with former major leaguer Pappas), tied for second in walks (8, even with future major leaguer George Kottaras and one behind Claudio Liverziani) and tied for sixth in hits (11). Pantaleoni was the lone Italian on the All-Tournament Team, joining Bryan Engelhardt and Cory Antony Harris as the outfielders chosen.

Pantaleoni hit .298/.349/.331 for Fortitudo Bologna during the 2004 season with 15 steals in 17 attempts. He tied for fifth in the league in steals. A utility man in the 2004 Olympics, he was just 1 for 16 at the plate while making two errors afield in a forgettable turn.

The Cupramontana native batted just .229/.287/.302 in 2005 and was caught stealing in five of seven tries. He was Italy's main third baseman in the 2005 European Championship, batting .281/.324/.344 with 6 runs and 7 RBI in 8 games; he tied for 3rd on the Silver Medalists in runs and tied Jim Buccheri for 2nd in RBI on the team, one behind Max De Biase.

He rebounded to .299/.387/.359 in 2006. He hit .238/.280/.304 in 2007 and .254/.312/.306 in '08. In 2009, Pantaleoni was 3 for 17 with two doubles and two walks.

His career batting line through 2009 is .262/.320/.341 in 591 games, with 375 runs scored.