Seth La Fera

Seth David La Fera

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.

• High School Sprayberry High School

• Born September 28, 1975 in Macomb, NY USA

Biographical Information

Seth La Fera has played for the Italian national team from 1999 through 2007, including two appearances in the Olympics.

La Fera was a high school teammate of Marlon Byrd and Kris Benson but went undrafted. He went to Italy and signed with C.U.S. Cariparma for 1999, hitting .265/.351/.313. He also went 5-3 with a 2.57 ERA. He also debuted for the Italian national team that year, appearing in the 1999 European Championship as a pitcher and fanning six batters in 3 2/3 scoreless innings for the Silver Medal winners. In the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, he was at shortstop for 2/3 of an inning and pitched to two batters, striking out one and allowing a sacrifice fly.

Seth hit .288/.393/.394 for Cariparma in 2000, playing primarily shortstop. He again pitched regularly, with a 1-3, 5.40 record. In the 2000 Olympics, Seth was 1 for 9 with 5 walks. Italy's most-used shortstop, he fielded .944. He went 0 for 5 with a walk in the 2000 Haarlem Baseball Week.

In 2001, La Fera was 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA in 9 outings; it would be his last year in which he pitched regularly. He hit .250/.377/.333. He hit .241/.352/.276 in the 2001 World Port Tournament. In the 2001 European Championship, La Fera batted .357/.438/.536 and helped Italy win Bronze. He made the tournament All-Star team at shortstop. During the 2001 Baseball World Cup, he hit .250/.400/.250 but made four errors in six games at short.

La Fera slumped to .216/.359/.278 in 2002 after moving to Semenzato Casa d'Aste Rimini but they went on to win the Serie A1 title anyhow. Seth switched countries in 2003, playing for Neptunus in the Dutch Major League and helping them win the 2003 Holland Series. He tied for 5th in the league in runs (29) and doubles (9) while his two homers tied for third behind Evert-Jan 't Hoen and Percy Isenia. In the 2003 European Championship, La Fera had as many errors (2) as hits (2 in 23 at-bats) but he drew 7 walks and scored four runs. He tied for 4th in the Euros in walks that year. He batted .200/.238/.500 and fielded .967 at SS in the 2003 Baseball World Cup; he homered in two of his four hits, leading Italy in RBI (6, two ahead of Vincent Parisi) and homers (Parisi had their only other one). He went deep off Segundo Salgado and Ki-pyo Kim.

La Fera returned to Italy in 2004, hitting .231/.370/.289 for Parma. He tied for 6th in Serie A1 with 34 walks. In the 2004 Haarlem Baseball Week, he was 2 for 13 with a walk and an error. La Fera was 3 for 15 with a walk and two errors in five games in the 2004 Olympics, again serving as Italy's primary answer at short.

In 2005, the Macomb native hit .284/.370/.361 for Parma. When Italy won Silver in the 2005 European Championship, he hit .233/.343/.267 while fielding .900 at SS. La Fera batted .268/.327/.296 in the 2006 Serie A1 campaign. In the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, Seth only hit .200/.276/.240 while serving as Italy's captain; he fielded just .892 at shortstop.

La Fera was 0 for 1 with a walk in the 2007 European Championship. He moved to T & A San Marino for the 2007 Serie A1 campaign and hit .302/.389/.396. He led the 2007 European Cup with 11 RBI. In the 2008 European Cup in Grosseto, La Fera batted .278/.435/.444 with 5 runs and 5 walks in 5 games. He was 2 for 9 with a walk in the Final Four. In the 2008 season, he produced at a .291/.348/.434 rate as San Marino won its first Serie A1 crown.

La Fera went 4 for 13 with a double and 3 runs in the Matino phase of the 2009 European Cup.

Sources

• IBAF
• Italian Baseball Federation
• Harry Wedemeijer's international tourney stats
• Marco Stoovelaar's Dutch baseball site
• Baseball.it
• 2008 European Cup in Grosseto
• 7/22/05 article on La Fera in the Marietta Daily Journal
• 2009 European Cup in Matino
• Wayback Archive of the 2005 European Championship site