Sebastiano Poma

Sebastiano Poma

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 174 lb.

• Born June 13, 1993 in Parma, Emilia-Romagna Italy

BR register page

Biographical Information

Sebastiano Poma has been a MVP in Italy.

Poma's father Gianguido Poma played for Team Italy in the 1980s and his mother Simona Gennari was a catcher in the highest level of softball in Italy. He was 2 for 7 in the 2009 European Junior Championship. He attended the MLB European Academy in 2011. He debuted in the Italian Baseball League in 2011, going 2 for 3 with two runs for his hometown Parma club. In the 2011 European Junior Championship, he was 7 for 12 with a walk, 3 runs and 3 RBI as a great part-timer.

He became a starter in 2012 and hit .260/.313/.374 for Parma. He led the league with five triples, one ahead of Luca Scalera. His playing time fell in 2013 and he hit .265/.371/.298. The outfielder played part-time in 2014 and batted .262/.373/.262. In 2015, he started for Parma and hit .238/.333/.267. He made the European team for the 2015 Asia Winter League.

He moved to T&A San Marino and blossomed in 2016. He was only 2 for 13 in the 2016 European Champions Cup but drew 5 walks (tying Rien Vernooij for second) and scored 3 runs in 4 games. He also had the winning hit off former AAA hurler Wes Roemer of Heidenheim Heideköpfe. In the 2016 Italian Baseball League, he produced at a .369/.452/.418 clip with 31 runs in 36 games. He won the batting title by one point ahead of former MLB regular Ronny Cedeño, was 10th in slugging, ranked 2nd in OBP (.033 behind Osman Marval), led in hits (52, 6 ahead of Cedeño and Marval), was second in runs (5 behind Paolino Ambrosino), tied Renato Imperiali for 8th in walks (22) and was 5th in total bases (59, between Marval and Jose Flores). He won the MVP, the Max Ott Award and joined Ambrosino and Nick Nosti as the Silver Slugger outfielders. He was the first Italian native to lead the IBL in average since Giuseppe Mazzanti eight years prior.

Poma made Team Italy's roster for the 2016 European Championship and started each game for the Bronze Medalists. In his debut, he led off and played left field. His first time up, against Jonathan Kountis, he hit into an error by Jordan Thliveris. He scored on an Alex Liddi triple one batter later. He got his first hit for Italy off Jim Lomis. He hit .258/.314/.258 for the 2016 Euros, but with 7 runs and 6 RBI in 7 games. He also played error-free defense. He tied for 10th in the event in runs. He and Mario Chiarini were the only native Italian outfielders on the Italian squad in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, joined by Italian-Americans John Andreoli, Brandon Nimmo and Rob Segedin (two of whom had played in the majors already and the other would later follow suit). In their opener against Mexico, he pinch-ran for Francisco Cervelli in the bottom of the 9th and scored the first run in their comeback off Roberto Osuna when Liddi doubled him in two batters later. His other game, he replaced the injured Nimmo, taking over in left as Segedin moved from LF to RF in 5th inning of a loss to Puerto Rico. He faced Hiram Burgos twice, grounding out in both the 6th and 8th.

In the 2017 European Champions Cup, he had 3 runs against Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg and hit .267/.389/.467 with 3 walks and 4 runs in the 4 games. During the 2017 Italian Baseball League campaign, his numbers were way down from his MVP season the prior year: .238/.323/.345. He did go 7-for-7 in steals and have five triples to lead the league in three-baggers for the second time. In the 2017 Italian Series, he hit .250/.250/.417 as San Marino was swept by Rimini.

He hit only .100/.217/.100 with 3 runs in 7 games in the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week. He returned to play for Parma in 2018 Serie A1; the team was now managed by his father. He failed to rebound to 2016 form, hitting .243/.316/.343. He was a bright spot for them when they lost to Bologna in the 2018 Italian Series at .353/.353/.471. He tied Gilmer Lampe for 4th in the Series in average, tied for 1st with 6 hits and tied for 4th with 3 runs.