Italian American baseball player
Baseball player
Matt Steven Ceriani (born 9 October 1976) is an Italian-American baseball catcher who played professionally from 1998 to 2010. He graduated from Vanden High School in Fairfield, California before playing college baseball at Ole Miss,[1] he majored in exercise science and was on the Southeastern Conference's Baseball Academic Honor Roll.[2]
Ceriani was drafted out of college and began his professional career in independent baseball in 1998 with the Evansville Otters.[1] During that season, his contract was purchased from the Otters[3] by the Milwaukee Brewers. He played in Milwaukee's farm system until 2001, reaching as high as Double-A with the Huntsville Stars in 2000. He returned to independent baseball to start the 2002 season, playing for the Solano Steelheads with his brother, Ryan.[1][4][5] During that season, his contract was purchased by the Arizona Diamondbacks and he finished the year in Double-A with the El Paso Diablos. He was released during the 2003 season and spent the rest of his career in unaffiliated ball with the exception of a spring training invitation from the Cleveland Indians in 2004.[1][4] Between 2003 and 2010, he played for ten different teams (including two seasons with the Kansas City T-Bones) in seven different leagues (including three seasons in the Golden Baseball League and two in the Italian Baseball League).[1]
In 2006, he was a member of the Italy national baseball team at the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He is a citizen of both Italy and the United States.[4]
After retiring as a player, Ceriani coached youth baseball players and developed a device to measure catchers' pop times more reliably than a stopwatch.[6]
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