Former big league veteran Francisco Cervelli has been named the new manager of Team Italy, according to a release from the Federation of Italian Baseball and Softball (FIBS).
Cervelli, who played for Team Italy in the 2009 and 2017 World Baseball Classics (WBC), will oversee the elite national squad and the U23 club.
The announcement came during a FIBS Federal Council meeting held annually at the CONI-X event in Rimini, Italy. This is one of the first significant moves by news FIBS president Marco Mazzieri, who was elected last fall.
Cervelli, who has Italian and Venezuelan heritage, has been an active clinician across Italy during his retirement from Major League Baseball. Last year, he also helped launch the Francisco Cervelli – Italian American Baseball Foundation Academy in Tuscany.
This marks a transition in leadership from another veteran big league catcher, Mike Piazza, who was the manager of Team Italy during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He guided the Azzurri to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Japan in the most-watched game on television in WBC history.
Cervelli played for the Yankees, Pirates, Braves, and Marlins between 2008 and 2020 and is a career .268 hitter. Cervelli was a member of the 2009 New York Yankees team that won the World Series.
FIBS and Cervelli have not released any direct statements about the position.
Italy Makes Other Coaching Announcements
Besides Cervelli, new managers were appointed for various levels of play: Guglielmo Trinci (U18), Giuseppe Mazzanti (U15), and Stefano Burato (U12). In softball, Maristella Perizzolo will be the manager of U15 and U18, while Maria Grazia Barberis will be renewed in U13. Maurizio Balla will continue to lead Baseball5, while Marco Corazza will lead the BXC National Team.
WBN Italy: https://worldbaseball.com/league/italy/
Photo Credit: Wiki Commons
