Vinnie Pasquantino does not want to hear any more slander against Team Italy amid their historic run in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
Team Italy punched its ticket to the WBC semifinals on Saturday with an 8-6 triumph over Puerto Rico. The win kept the Azzurri undefeated in the tournament, with impressive wins over Team USA and Mexico.
Some have downplayed Italy’s success, given that most of its players were born, raised, and trained in the United States. Many of them were eligible to play for the Azzurri as Americans of Italian descent.
Pasquantino doesn’t see a problem with that. Italy’s team captain explained to MLB Network’s Anthony Castrovince why he still takes a lot of pride in representing a country he did not grow up in.
“I know there’s a lot of people that are upset that we represent Italy, being Italian-American,” Pasquantino said. “But I take so much pride in it because it’s my roots. My family came over for a better life to America, and I honestly don’t have any issue representing those members of my family.
“It’s just super cool to be given this opportunity from these guys, to learn about your history and to be able to perform for people in a country that baseball doesn’t exist at this level. We’re trying to get it to exist at a level somewhat like this.”
Only three players on the team — pitchers Sam Aldegheri, Gabriele Quattrini, and Claudio Scotti — actually hail from Italy. For any American fans upset over Italy’s team composition, Pasquantino made sure to remind them that the Azzurri did Team USA a huge solid by keeping the latter alive in the tournament.
