FIBS Academist Daniele Di Monte signs minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers

FIBS Academist Daniele Di Monte recently signed a professional baseball contract with the Detroit Tigers on December 18, 2018. Daniele Di Monte follows in the footsteps of the late and great Reno Bertoia, another well-known Italian Tiger, who was signed by the same MLB organization 65 years earlier, and who was born in the same northern Italian province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia as the 16-year-old Daniele Di Monte.The similarities between the two Italian players end there as Reno Bertoia moved with his family as an infant to Windsor, Canada while young MLB prospect Daniele Di Monte was born and developed in Italy.

Enrolled in the FIBS Academy during the 2016-17 Academic Year under the watchful eye of former Team Italy pitching coach Bill Holmberg and athletic trainer Daniele Santolupo, Daniele Di Monte soon became a strong pitching candidate who could also hit the ball. As a result of his promising talent, he received an invitation to the Kansas City Royals Arizona Training Facility in Surprise, Arizona to participate in the 2017 Prep Baseball Report (PBR) College Showcase. Daniele Di Monte made a favorable impression on scouts and remained on the MLB radar throughout 2018. 

Returning to the new FIBS Academy Acquacetosa at the Giulio Onesti Olympic Training Center in Rome under the guidance and direction of Team Italy U18 manager John Cortese, pitching coach Luis Hernandez Aguila, hitting coach Stefano Cappuccini, and athletic trainer Ivano Licciardi, Daniele Di Monte became an even stronger player. In October 2018 he returned to Arizona as one of 31 elite invitees to be part of the MLB World Select Team. Scouts liked what they saw in Daniele Di Monte, and the Detroit Tigers took action by offering a minor league contract with hopes of developing the young and talented athlete into a dominant pitcher.

In February 2019 Danielle Di Monte will report to Detroit Tigers Spring Training Camp in Lakeland, Florida. He will spend two months in the U.S. before returning to Italy in order to complete his educational pursuits. Upon graduation, it is expected Daniele Di Monte will join fellow Italian-born MLB hopefuls Alex Liddi (Kansas City Royals), Marten Gasparini (Kansas City Royals), Alberto Mineo (Toronto Blue Jays), Leonardo Seminati (Cincinnati Reds), and Cesar Astorri (Oakland Athletics) in America. He will be playing against the game's best prospects in Minor League Baseball to determine who will make it to the top in Major League Baseball.

Wearing a Detroit Tigers uniform like Reno Bertoia did when he signed to the organization in 1953 would be a great honor for Daniele Di Monte. Reno Bertoia grew up in Canada next door to fellow Italian-born major leaguer Hank Biasatti, and learned a great deal from Detroit Tigers teammate and National Baseball Hall of Famer Al Kaline. Daniele Di Monte attended the FIBS Academy with many of the current Italian-born MLB prospects and has received encouragement from his Azzurri teammates. It is Daniele Di Monte’s hope and dream to replicate the path Reno Bertoia took to become a major leaguer in Detroit one day. International scouts and coaches on both sides of the Atlantic agree that the young Italian prospect has the potential to grow and develop into a MLB candidate with the help of seasoned professionals. Let’s wish Daniele Di Monte the best of luck in pursuing his prosperious baseball career. Forza #Italia! #LetsMakeItHappen

by Roberto Angotti