Trent D'Antonio

Trent D'Antonio

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 180 lb.

• High School Figtree High School

• Born August 4, 1985 in Wollongong, New South Wales Australia

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Trent D'Antonio played three years in the minors and for the Australian national team. In the US, he was primarily a catcher but has been primarily an infielder in Australia.

D'Antonio hit .455 with 8 runs and 7 RBI in the 2001 World Youth Championship. In the 2002 World Junior Championship, he hit .370/.520/.630 with 8 RBI in 8 games. He failed to make the tourney All-Star team in the outfield; among those chosen were Adam Loewen and Lastings Milledge. In the 2003 Claxton Shield, the 17-year-old was 1 for 13 with two walks for the Australian provincials. D'Antonio was 5 for 20 with two walks and 5 RBI in the 2004 Claxton Shield. That year, the Florida Marlins signed him.

In 2005, D'Antonio was just 2 for 18 with two walks in the Claxton Shield. He hit .214/.333/.286 in 7 games for the Jamestown Jammers and .280/.350/.493 in 24 for the Greensboro Grasshoppers. He had an excellent performance in the 2005 Baseball World Cup, going 5 for 9 with two doubles and a home run for Australia.

D'Antonio was 5 for 11 with 4 walks, a double and four runs as a C/LF/DH for the New South Wales Patriots in the 2006 Claxton Shield. He hit .245/.316/.471 for Greensboro in 2006, homering in 12 of 204 at-bats to show good power. He was only 2 for 20 with two walks and a double as Australia's left fielder in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup.

In the 2007 Claxton Shield, D'Antonio was 4 for 19 but with 5 walks and 5 runs. In the US that year, he hit .285/.390/.318 in 57 games for Jupiter, showing less power but an impressive OBP. In the 2008 Claxton Shield, Trent hit .258/.343/.387 as New South Wales made it to the finals only to lose.

When the Australian Baseball League was revived, he was the main third baseman for the Sydney Blue Sox, hitting .239/.365/.324 with 9 steals in 13 tries in 2010-2011. He led the new loop in swipes (two over Michael Lysaught) and was 5th in walks (24). In 2011-2012, he slumped to .208/.296/.264 as Sydney's #3 catcher (behind Patrick Maat and Andrew Graham. He was a 2B/3B/C for Sydney in 2012-2013 and rebounded to .304/.407/.548 with 6 homers, 25 runs and 27 RBI in 33 games. He was 10th in the league in average, 9th in OBP (between Corey Adamson and Mitch Dening), 4th in slugging (between Jeremy Barnes and Ji-man Choi), 4th in OPS (between Choi and Ryan Stovall), tied Mike Ohlman for 9th in RBI and tied for 7th in home runs.

As a part-time second baseman for Sydney in 2013-2014, he slumped to .241/.307/.350 then fell further, to .202/.340/.277 in 2014-2015. He was resurgent the next winter, producing at a .344/.469/.452 clip for Sydney with 36 runs and 32 RBI in 45 games. He was second in the 2015-2016 ABL in average (.002 behind David Harris), first in OBP (.001 over Marc Wik), 7th in OPS (between Wik and Jason Leblebijian), 6th in runs, 3rd in walks (32) and missed the top 10 in RBI by one.

Making the Australian national team in the first ten years, he did well in limited time in the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in February 2016. He pinch-hit for Mitch Nilsson in the opener, drew a walk from Leslie Cabiling and scored on a fly from Brad Harman. After sitting out game 2, he started at DH and hit 7th in the finale against South Africa with a spot in the 2017 World Baseball Classic on the line. He did a great job that game, going 2 for 3 with two walks, a run and three RBI. He doubled off Carl Michaels to score Trent Oeltjen in the 6th to tie the game at 4. In the 8th, with Australia having pulled ahead, he scored on an error by Jonathan Phillips. Later in that inning, he hit a two-run single off Garth Cahill to score David Sutherland and Oeltjen.

Sources

• Flintoff & Dunn Australian Baseball Almanac
• Baseball.com.au
• Australian Baseball League
• World Baseball Classic