Marco Mazzieri

Marco Mazzieri

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born December 20, 1962 in Grosseto, Tuscany Italy

Biographical Information

Marco Mazzieri became manager of the Italian national team in 2007.

Mazzieri played from 1980-2000 for Grosseto as an outfielder, helping them to two titles in Serie A1. The only exceptions are the 1991 season when he played for Calze Verdi Casalecchio, and two years for Fortitudo Bologna (1992-1993).

He hit .297/.403/.400 in his career and stole 234 bases in 305 tries, scoring 958 runs over 1,022 games. Mazzieri played 87 games for the Italian national team as well.

Mazzieri played for Italy in the 1985 European Championship, backing up Gianmario Costa and Roberto Bianchi in LF, Paolo Catanzani in CF and Giuseppe Carelli in RF. He went 4 for 12 with 4 walks, a double, three steals in three tries, four runs and two RBI in six games and Italy won the Silver Medal. He tied Costa for the team lead in swipes despite his bench role. He also appeared for Italy in the 1986 Amateur World Series, 1987 European Championship (.238/.304/.238 in CF for the Silver Medalists), 1987 Intercontinental Cup and 1988 Baseball World Cup (hitting .200/.308/.200 and handling 30 chances error-free in center field). When Italy won the 1989 European Championship, he hit .394/.487/.606 with 11 RBI and 9 R in 8 G, going 0 for 3 in steals and handling 16 putouts in center; he tied for second on the team with two homers (one behind Elio Gambuti) and tied Catanzani and Claudio Cecconi for the team lead in RBI. He had three of their six game-winning RBI. He was also with Italy in the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and 1990 Baseball World Cup (0 for 6 with a walk).

Marco coached for Grosseto, leading them to the semifinals in 2002.

Mazzieri managed the Italian junior national team to a European title in 2005. He coached for Italy in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup. The next year, he replaced Giampiero Faraone as manager of the senior national team after a disappointing 7th-place finish in the 2007 European Championship.

Mazzieri guided Italy to a 3-4 record in the 2007 Baseball World Cup. They were the only team to beat the Gold Medalist Team USA but they lost their last three games to miss the quarterfinals.

Mazzieri was skipper of Italy in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and then took them to the title in the 2010 European Championship, their first Gold Medal in the event since 1997. He continued to lead Italy in the 2010 Intercontinental Cup (a Bronze, their first Medal ever in a global tournament), the 2011 Baseball World Cup, 2012 European Championship (another Gold), 2013 World Baseball Classic (stunning Mexico to make it to the second round) and 2014 European Championship.

Mazzieri has also been a Europe scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, signing Federico Celli.

Sources: Italian stats, Marco Stoovelaar's Dutch news site story on Mazzieri's becoming manager of the Italian national team, Mister Baseball