Marcello Malagoli

Marcello Malagoli

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 209 lb.

• Born July 14, 1973 in Modena, Modena Italy

Olympics-Reference page

Biographical Information

Marcello Malagoli is a former Olympic catcher.

Malagoli debuted with his hometown Modena BC in 1993, hitting .194/.256/.241 in 36 games with 44 whiffs in 108 AB. He returned in 1996 and batted .255/.330/.292, followed by seasons of .211/.311/.282 in 1997, .266/.333/.350 in 1998, .215/.287/.264 in 1999, .261/.333/.312 in 2000, .259/.322/.337 in 2001 and .214/.330/.266 in 2002. Despite his relative light hitting in '02, he made the Italian national team for the 2002 Intercontinental Cup. Backing up Carlos Patrone at catcher, he had more passed balls (2) than hits (0 for 5). He batted .223/.271/.284 for Modena in 2003 but did well in the finals, going 6 for 19 with a double and a walk as Modena got as close to a title as it ever has (through 2009). He played two games in the 2003 European Championship but did not bat, backing up Vincent Parisi at backstop. In the 2003 Baseball World Cup, he again had more passed balls (1) than hits (going 0 for 3).

Malagoli batted .230/.328/.264 for Modena in 2004. In the 2004 Olympics, he played three innings as the backup behind Luca Bischeri and Parisi. He was retired by Manuel Vega in his lone at-bat in the Olympics and once again had a passed ball. In his last four major events, he had gone 0 for 9 with four passed balls.

In '05, Marcello improved to .246/.369/.281, a career high in OBP. He hit .231/.500/.231 with 5 runs in 6 games for Italy in the 2005 European Championship, starting for the Silver Medalists. He fell to .196/.303/.196 in 2006. Moving to Godo and leaving Modena for the only time, he was just 7 for 62 with seven walks and 22 strikeouts.

Overall, Malagoli hit .228/.313/.278 in 611 games in Italy, homering just four times. His defense was not as bad as his international stats indicated - he had 86 passed balls overall and allowed 669 steals in 920 tries.