Joey Marciano

Joey J. Marciano

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 5", Weight 250 lb.

• School Southern Illinois University Carbondale, John A. Logan College
• High School Roberto Clemente High School (Chicago)

• Born January 11, 1995 in Carbondale, IL USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Joey Marciano has pitched as high as AAA and for the Italian national team. He is related to boxer Rocky Marciano.

He was 8-2 as a junior college freshman and 7-4 with a 2.52 ERA and 97 K as a sophomore. Transferring to SIU Carbondale, he was 4-7 with a 3.78 ERA as a junior and 3-3, 4.70 as a senior with 56 K in 46 IP and a .190 opponent average. The San Francisco Giants took him in the 36th round of the 2017 amateur draft; the scout was Todd Coryell.

The left-hander was 4-1 with a 1.57 ERA and .212 opponent average for the 2017 AZL Giants in a fine pro debut. He and John Parke were named the Arizona League All-Star southpaw pitchers. He split '18 between the Augusta Greenjackets (4-3, 2.58 in 14 G) and San Jose Giants (1-4, 8.33 in 13 G). He was 2-1 with a save and a 4.75 ERA for San Jose in '19, whiffing 46 in 41 2/3 innings. Unable to support his family on his minor league paycheck, he retired to work in retail, launching a clothing brand as well.

He decided to give baseball another try and the Giants re-signed him. He was 3-4 with four saves and a 3.09 ERA in 39 games for the Richmond Flying Squirrels in 2021, striking out 59 in 46 2/3 innings. He combined with Matt Frisbee, Matt Seelinger and Patrick Ruotolo on Richmond's first nine-inning no-hitter ever, against the Harrisburg Senators; he took over for Frisbee in the 7th and walked one (the first Harrisburg baserunner) in 1 2/3 IP before Seelinger came in. Moving up to AAA, he was 4-2 with 9 saves and a 4.12 ERA in 56 outings for the 2022 Sacramento River Cats. He was third in the 2022 PCL in games pitched, behind Zach Lee and Julian Fernández and tied Kevin Ginkel for 7th in saves. He led Giants farmhands in pitching appearances and was second to Nick Avila in saves.

Marciano then made the American-dominated Italy squad for the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He made two appearances. Against Taiwan, he relieved Stephen Woods Jr. in the 7th with a 7-7 tie, one on and one out. He had a rough time as Chin Cheng, Kun-Yu Chiang and Kuo-Chen Fan greeted him with singles to make it 8-7 (scoring the winning run) before Li Lin hit into a double play. In the 8th, Chen-Wei Chen bunted into an out but Joey walked Yu Chang then Nien-Ting Wu singled and Giljegiljaw Kungkuan walloped a three-run shot for insurance. Claudio Scotti then took over. His other game was against champion Japan in the quarterfinals. Relieving Vinny Nittoli in the 6th with a 7-2 deficit, he started strong by whiffing Lars Nootbaar and Kensuke Kondoh and getting MVP Shohei Ohtani to ground out. Things unraveled in the 7th as Masataka Yoshida homered and Munetaka Murakami doubled. After he intentionally walked Kazuma Okamoto, Matt Festa relieved and would let an inherited runner in, leaving Marciano with a 22.50 ERA. Only Joe Biagini had a higher mark for Italy in the Classic.