The other day, Collecchio Baseball, playing in the Italian Serie A, announced the signing of a player with a Dutch passport. In the past few years, players from the Dutch Kingdom are popular among Italian clubs. Especially players from Curaçao and Aruba since those players have a Dutch passport and thus can be considered players from the European Union.
The player that has been signed by Collecchio is Cal Fernando Maduro. Cal was born on October 25th, 2001 in Oranjestad, Aruba. The youngster had a short career in the farm system of the Kansas City Royals. In 2019, he debuted with the Dominican Summer League team of the Royals. In that short season, he showed some promising numbers with a 2.56 ERA in fourteen games. He earned six saves and finished eleven. Unfortunately, he could not live up to the expectations in 2021 as he played in the ACL (Arizona Complex League). He appeared in twenty-one games and posted a 1-4 record with a 6.62 ERA.
During the 2021 U23 World Cup in Mexico, Cal was used in a different role than the Royals used him. He appeared in one game in which
he took the mound as a starter. Unfortunately, he didn’t last longer than 3.1 innings in which he allowed three runs on three hits and three walks. He also struck out four.
Collecchio will use him as a closer in the matches that are reserved for foreign pitchers.
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