Ricardo Paolini

Ricardo Segundo Paolini

• Bats Left, Throws Right

• Born November 9, 1999 in Merida, Merida Venezuela

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ricardo Paolini has played in Italy and Venezuela and for the Italian national team.

He hit .290/.303/.462 with six RBI in eight games for Italy in the 2017 U-18 Baseball World Cup, pitching 1 1/3 shutout innings (though he walked three) and fielding .935, playing mostly 2B. He had two doubles and two RBI versus Canada and was 3-for-3 against South Africa. He tied Noah Naylor, Triston Casas, Edouard Julien and others for 5th in the event in doubles (3).

Paolini was the starting second sacker for Parma Clima in 2018, hitting .234/.311/.266 in the regular season. He batted .278/.278/.333 in the 2018 Italian Series but they fell to Bologna. He improved to .308/.365/.492 in 2019 and was at .325/.412/.422 in the COVID-19-shortened 2020.

The Venezuela native produced at a .455/.500/.591 clip with five runs in five games for Parma in the 2021 European Champions Cup, going deep off the Arrows Ostrava's Alexander Šín. He tied Drew Janssen and Dwayne Kemp for the tournament lead with ten hits, and led with 17 assists. Parma won the title. In the 2021 U-23 European Championship, he hit .286/.474/.571 foe the third-place Italians. That summer, he hit .333/.392/.444 with 24 runs in 26 games.

Ricardo moved to Fortitudo Bologna in 2022 and dazzled at .440/.478/.572 with 15 doubles and 48 runs in 42 games. He led the league in runs, hits and doubles. Playing for Italy in the 2022 Haarlem Baseball Week, he hit .333/.333/.381 and fielded .950 at 2B. His seven hits tied Juremi Profar, Takuma Hayashi and Darren Seferina for the lead. He went 9 for 29 for the Navegantes del Magallanes in the 2022-2023 Venezuelan Winter League, backing up Rayder Ascanio at second.

He slumped to .247/.344/.312 in the 2023 Serie A1 but was 4-for-10 with four RBI as Bologna swept ASD San Marino in the 2023 Italian Series to win Series MVP. Shortly before the Series, he was named to Italy's team for the 2023 European Championship.