Luca Bischeri

Luca Bischeri

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 192 lb.

• Born June 12, 1979 in Grosseto, Tuscany Italy

Biographical Information

Luca Bischeri is a former Olympic catcher.

Bischeri debuted in Serie A1 in 1995; the teenager went 1 for 3 for his hometown Grosseto club. In '96, the 17-year-old was 1 for 3 with 2 RBI. In 1997, he hit .136/.182/.208 in 10 games. The next year, the youth batted .318/.348/.364 in 11 contests. By 1999, he was playing somewhat regularly and hitting .411/.477/.429. In 2000, Bischeri hit .362/.423/.532 with 19 RBI in 27 games.

Bischeri batted .281/.381/.363 with 32 runs and 32 RBI in 48 games during the 2001 campaign. He slumped to .247/.343/.318 for the 2002 Grosseto club while playing primarily first base. He made his debut that year for the Italian national team. He hit .304/.407/.348 as Italy's first baseman in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup despite 9 strikeouts in 23 AB. He led the team in OBP.

In 2003, Luca batted .327/.385/.428 with 44 RBI in 54 games but only threw out 3 of 23 attempted base thieves. He went 2 for 7 in the 2003 Baseball World Cup, backing up Dean Rovinelli at first base. He was only 1 for 9 in the 2003 European Championship.

Bischeri hit .321/.395/.385 for Grosseto in 2004 with 26 RBI in 31 games. He was 4 for 13 in the 2004 Olympics, trailing only Giuseppe Mazzanti for the best average on Italy. Opponents were 5-for-7 in steal attempts against Luca, who split catching duties with Vincent Parisi.

The Grosseto backstop slumped to .213/.247/.287 in 2005. He went 1 for 5 with two walks as the backup to Marcello Malagoli when Italy finished second in the 2005 European Championship. He was 0 for 1 with a walk in starting the Gold Medal Game, when Italy was shut down by Patrick Beljaards and a couple relievers. Bischeri batted .298/.364/.354 with 31 RBI in 46 games in 2006. In the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, the 27-year-old went 3 for 12 with 2 walks but had 3 errors in 4 games at catcher and allowed 9 steals in 9 attempts while backing up Juan Pablo Angrisano behind the plate.

In limited duty in 2007, he hit .209/.303/.254 while being used mostly as a DH. He batted .254/.311/.290 as the Grosseto DH in 2008. Luca was 1 for 12 in the 2008 European Cup in Grosseto but his team still finished second. In the Final Four, Bischeri was 2 for 8 with 2 RBI.