The BC Settimo and Texas Rangers companies communicate that the athlete Williams Wong has reached an agreement for the transition to the American franchise based in Arlington – Texas. Williams Wong In the coming weeks he will join the elite program of the “Texas Rangers Baseball Academy” on the sports campus in the Dominican Republic, where he will begin his professional / sports career. He certainly represents a uniqueness in Italy, the fact that a 17-year-old athlete has signed a contract with an American franchise, without going through high school or university scouting.
Williams Wong born in 2005, started treading the diamond of Settimo Torinese very young; from minibaseball to the youth he has always stood out for his commitment, passion and discipline, becoming part of the national youth selections in the U12, U15 and currently U18 classes. Williams made his debut in the Italian Serie A championship with BC Settimo, in the role of 2nd baseman, at the age of 14 in the 2020 season. Last season in the regular season he was the best 2nd baseman in Serie A as statistics, reaching a batting average AVG .378, SLG .662, OPS of 1.083. Also in 2022 Wong with the Italian national team graduated vice-champion of Europe Under18, and participated in the Under18 baseball world championship in Sarasota in Florida where he stunned everyone with an AVG batting average of .429, OPS of 1.024, 6 RBI and a slugging percentage SLG .524 Thanks also to the performances shown also during the youth European and World Cup, Williams has been the object of observation and scouting by some American franchises. In December he was invited by the Texas Rangers to their academy for two intense weeks of physical and technical tests.
Williams Wong “I’m happy!, what I tell all of our youth players is that if you have a passion, believe it! work to achieve the goal because the commitment and sacrifices will then be repaid”; Willams is aware that the road is long “this contract represents a starting point and not an arrival point; I am aware that I will have to work a lot with the Texas Rangers, I will find an elite of athletes who are all motivated to play in the professional American franchises. But it’s a dream come true, since I was a child, ever since dad put a ball in my hand I’ve dreamed of playing for a big American team and I have to thank the Texas Rangers scouting team for trusting me” Williams looks at the future but don’t forget the journey that has made it up to today “If I’m here today I have to thank many people: my family, my mum, my dad and my grandparents who have always encouraged and helped me along this path. My company, where I spent more time on the diamond than in my bedroom (laughs). Il Settimo is a family, a right size where you can grow as an athlete without external pressure. You can work with everyone, grow by watching athletes older than you and have an eye for the little ones. The Italian Baseball federation for having trusted me in these years with the national team, I am sure that my experience will be of help in increasing the quality and experience of the Italian baseball movement”.
Patrizia Sciarrilli President of BC Settimo “Williams believed in his dream and we are happy to accompany him in this important moment for him, which is also a recognition of the work that each of us has done in society and of the extremely high quality of our Baseball school which confirms one of the best at national level.. For this reason we have decided that “Believe” in Settimo will be the claim of the 2023 season of the BC Settimo, we believe in the growth path undertaken in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, which will see this spring the birth of the Seventh grade youth softball team, an amateur softball team and a disability-related business; to do this we need the contribution of all the stakeholders in the area to make this project grow: we need the support of the Municipality, of new sponsors who want such an inclusive sport such as baseball, but also of the schools to spread this sport in families and in young people”.
Sciarrilli continues “We saw Williams with the ball in hand at a very young age. Ernesto Wong (his father) has managed to raise an excellent athlete but also a boy who is always polite and respectful of the rules and opponents. Let’s not take it for granted, being fathers and coaches at the same time is not easy at all. I can say that Ernesto has treated Williams like all his other athletes over the years, and has become a point of reference for all our athletes, from the youth teams to Serie A.” “the wish? that Williams is successful and above all that this opportunity, born with the Texas Rangers, can be offered to our other athletes of merit in the future. Think what happened in basketball 15 years ago could happen in baseball today. Italian athletes who, thanks to the work of all the clubs and the federation, reach the American championship. Recipe? for us it’s always the same, trust and growth of our youth, very little foreign market, a championship that gives young people who grew up in clubs the opportunity to play at the highest level. The youth players need to play and compete, a youth season is often reduced to 10/13 games a year, maybe they are too few, we have to go in that direction”.
The Serie A season restarts on 15 and 16 April with the Piedmont derby which will be played in Settimo
Turin against the Turin Grizzlies. The “Believe” campaign for 2023 athlete registrations has begun, registrations are open on the website www.bcsettimo.com/prova, in the coming weeks there will also be open days in schools, for the registration of new athletes for softball and the other youth representatives.
@BC Settimo Press Office
