It’s a Mike Piazza smiling after a whole day spent together with the very young athletes who came from all over Lazio (and beyond) to work with him and the Italian staff on the Anzio pitch.
“These are very important occasions – he comments immediately – not only for the enthusiasm they arouse, but also for the involvement of parents, who understand their children’s activities better and better, and to begin to show, with the opportunity offered by the event, certain behaviors and exercises that lead in the right direction, also sharing them with their coaches.”
The last Steel Family Day of 2024 and the clinic dedicated to Under 15 hitters that followed it are an excellent opportunity to interview the coach on the Club Italia LA28 program and all-round Italian baseball.
How did the Club Italia program start in 2024?
“We definitely started off on the right foot – declares the MLB hall-of-famer born in 2016 – with Andrea (Marcon, ed.) and all the staff have shared some clear and defined strategic objectives, and it is by keeping them in mind that in recent months we have built the platform for the development of talents that will lead us to qualification for the next Olympics. We absolutely must create an Italian baseball culture that allows us to compete with the best, first of all at a European level, because this is where qualification will come from, and therefore on the international stage. To do this, it is necessary to build connections and bonds with realities ahead of us, in order to learn and use all the tools that can make us grow. In this, the path of the last Classic is helping us a lot: we have brought the ‘Italy’ brand into the spotlight of world baseball, new and historic friends have come forward to collaborate and help the program from a technical point of view and from the States New sponsors have arrived from the United States and Canada Steel Sports, SFIAC e CIPPA.”
The Kansas City Royals hosted the first Pitchers and Catchers Camp in October.
“Nick Leto hey Royals they were fantastic. The Federation has signed an agreement that looks decidedly forward. Our pitchers and catchers have been introduced to several MLB teams and have been able to work with many top-notch professionals in Surprise’s amazing facility. Phil Cundari he made himself completely available to Club Italia and started an individual relationship with our boys and coaches which we already had the opportunity to test in the match in Tampa. This also creates new opportunities: for example Ettore Giulianelli he stood out and was invited to an audition at the beginning of next year; Matteo (Bocchi, ed.) had a personalized evaluation at the laboratory Driveline Baseball of Scottsdale, which the staff had the opportunity to visit to learn about the latest technologies for scouting and game data analysis. Driveline is a partner of the Korean League (KBO), with which we have started a project with a view to 2026, while next year we will collaborate with the CTBA, thanks to the agreement developed by coach Joe Hsu (Ambassador of Italian baseball in Taiwan, ed.).
To reiterate the importance of being included in these contexts: Caitlyn Callahan at Surprise held pitching workshops and labs with coaches, while the KC technology team explained the use of metrics Trackman (partner ufficiale WBSC, ed.).”
And then the College Series in Tampa.
“Even in this case – continues the Italian manager – it is a structural partnership. THE’University of Tampa hosted the games and offered to do so every year, at least until the Los Angeles Games. This has led the scholarship program, with a possible offer already in the works, to report on college-eligible players through a scouting and data analysis tool run by Anthony Lucchese e Matthew Boccardi and, overall, an eye-opening experience for the young players who were able to see first-hand and understand the benefits of going to college for personal and on-field development. The staff was able to set up a uniform method for evaluating players based on their age and ability and a system for preparing rosters for U-18, U-23 and Elite events through LA 2028.”
The agreement with MyNextPlay it is aimed instead at understanding the American university system, but also looks, so to speak, further down.
“Once again – says Piazza – it’s about culture; knowledge of the world one is dealing with is fundamental, even more so in cases such as that of the American school and university system, which is so different from the Italian one. Understanding how to deal with it, for children and their families, is essential to hope for success and the structure of Brian Grey was created precisely to provide these tools.”
In addition to her, there were many majorleaguers who collaborated with the Italian staff during the camp.
“Exact. Blake Butera, Tino Martinez, Mike Calitri who is with the Phillies like Cundari, Jim Hickey, Drew Rossi e Rob Fumagalliwho recently returned to Italy for the physical preparation clinic. With some of them it is the natural continuation of a consolidated collaboration, with others we will soon be able to announce new ones.
Andrew Crescithe Astros’ hitting coach, has developed a hitting reporting system in which players are now tracked in a database, using the platform Blast Motionwhose partnership was extended to include the Regional Academies complex.
This time, after the 2023 Classic, none of the players or coaches have abandoned the team chat, contacts are constant and the desire to collaborate in the development of Italian baseball is continually growing. CON-X will be the perfect opportunity for many of these coaches and consultants to return to Italy, introduce themselves to the wider public, but also spend time in the Academies.”
What activities are planned for the next few months?
“As I was saying, there are programs for all categories. Coach Joe Urso (coach of the year 2024 after winning the NCAA Division II with his University of Tampa Spartans, ed.) will be in Italy in July for three U-12 and U-15 clinics, while in Tampa our selections will be able to participate in the tournaments from the Hit Factory of the brothers Russo.
There are excellent contacts developed in Florida, which will allow us to organize spring training for Club Italia using different options, starting from Phillies who have already invited us, without forgetting the Blue Jays and obviously the University of Tampa itself, which opened the doors of an excellent facility to us. Other opportunities are then simple to organize with i Mets hey Nationals.
U-18 prospects will also be part of the group to shine with high schools and colleges, while also preparing for the U-18 World Cup and the U-23 European Championship.
In particular for this group, we received a collaboration proposal from USA Baseball and an invitation for joint activities in preparation for the World Cup in their National Training Complex.
Every year Club Italia will have pre and post championship activities, in the United States or in Asia, as is known, the objective is to extend the season on the field of prospects to at least 9 months and to provide everyone with an individual plan that it also includes the off-season, as we started at the Olympic Camp and finalized, after the preparatory analysis, in Collecchio.
And when possible and functional, even during the season and without neglecting Europe: there are preparation activities, especially friendly matches and tournaments for different categories, on the calendar of which we are working together with Czech Republic e When.
Without a solution of continuity, between Italy and the many parts of the world that support us and want to collaborate, obviously including Europe.”
The 2025 Italian baseball agenda includes, as official competitions, the European Championship for the Elite, U-23, U-15 and U-12 categories and the U-18 World Cup.
In the cover photo: the blue dugout during the College Series at the University of Tampa.
Marco Landi
