By Cameron ‘CJ’ Hancock
A release from the Italian Baseball Softball Federation, on Saturday, confirmed that Mike Piazza had been relieved of his duties as the men's national team manager. Replacing Piazza is former Italian international and native Venezuelan, Francisco Cervelli.
Cervelli, a 12-year Major League veteran, qualifies to play for Italy due to his Italian father, who hails from Bari on the east coast. As a player, Cervelli played with flair and passion, something he credits to his Latin roots and to his favourite football player, Alessandro Del Piero. An avid Juventus fan, he has never strayed far from his Italian heritage.
Cervelli transitioned to coaching in 2021 after retiring a year earlier. His debut assignment was as the catching instructor for the San Diego Padres, and the Italian job will be his first as a manager. He will be a relative unknown in the dugout; finding steady work as a backup catcher in the Majors will have certainly given him lots of time to observe the likes of Joe Girardi and Clint Hurdle, managers he served under as a player.
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| Francisco Cervelli representing Italy at the World Baseball Classic (wbsc.org) |
The decision to replace Mike Piazza has come as a shock to many in the game, particularly those who cover international baseball. MLB.com writer Michael Clair described the news as ‘mind blowing’, with international baseball journalist Shawn Spradling calling the news ‘HUGE’. And it’s not hard to see why, Piazza conducted a sit down interview with FIBS writer Marco Landi outlining his ambitions for the program in the year ahead, just two months before he was replaced.
Piazza’s role in the Italian federation cannot be understated. He has been instrumental in reinventing the youth and development infrastructure within the country, as well as forging pathways for young players to develop their game at clinics, high schools and colleges in the US. He helped establish relationships with Steel Sports, the University of Tampa and the Kansas City Royals, all aimed at boosting the opportunities for native Italian players from the grassroots up.
With that being said, it would be hard to imagine Piazza leaving the federation entirely. His passion and endeavour is simply too valuable to the game in Italy to replace him completely. He has been a stalwart of the Azzurri since he first played for them at the inaugural WBC in 2006, taking the mantle of hitting coach in 2009 and 2013 before being promoted to manager in 2019. Due to the Covid outbreak, however, Piazza would only step into the dugout for the first tournament in 2021.
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| Mike Piazza as team Italy hitting coach in 2013 (wbsc.org) |
And it’s in the dugout where the real crux of the issue lies. Piazza has overseen an Italy side, that is usually one of the premier teams on the continent, finishing no better than third at any tournament. Losing out to Israel in the semi-finals of EuroBaseball 2021 meant he had to settle for bronze that year. That was followed up by a sixth (last) place finish at Honkbalweek Haarlem in 2022, beating only Curacao and Cuba before losing to the latter in the 5th/6th playoff.
Things would show some sign of promise when the World Baseball Classic rolled around in 2023. Piazza guided the Italians out of the group stage for only the second time, albeit via a dead heat which saw all five teams finish on identical 2-2 records, with Italy and Cuba making it out via head-to-head tie-breaker rules. Italy would lose to eventual champions Japan in the quarterfinal, but a respectable 5th place overall proved Piazza’s efforts might be paying off. Then came the shipwreck that was EuroBaseball 2023.
Piazza and Italy came into the tournament with high hopes of making it deep into the competition once again, drawn in a group with Great Britain, Sweden and debutants Hungary. On paper, this should have been a group that Italy topped. An inexperienced Hungary side making their first ever appearance at the European Championship, were swept aside easily. But a humiliating loss to Sweden the day after was not only a shock to the Italians, but blew the group and the tournament wide open. The final nail in the coffin came in a nail biting 11-10 defeat to GB, that went on just north of four hours.
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| Mike Piazza (right) as team Italy manager before EuroBaseball 2023 (fibs.it) |
The Italy squad were visibly frustrated after that result, leaving the field immediately without any formalities with their GB counterparts. Forced to settle for a ninth place finish, this was Italy’s worst ever showing at a European Championship and is likely to have raised doubts in the federations minds as to whether Piazza was the man to deliver success at the highest level.
It will be interesting to see what becomes of the relationship between Piazza and the Italian Federation now he no longer holds its most prominent coaching position, and is no longer in charge of the nations academy. It would be foolish to not allow him to continue his work in the country, especially considering he now lives there. Of even more interest will be how Cervelli fairs in his new role. All eyes will be on EuroBaseball 2025 to see whether FIBS’s decision to part ways with Piazza will be vindicated, his are certainly big shoes to fill.
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