While New Zealand and Canadian pitching has fueled many an American team during the past several decades, more and more teams are discovering another hotbed of talent – Argentina.

This past weekend, plenty of Argentine pitching talent was on display in Santa Barbara at the Best of the West tournament, including tournament Most Valuable Pitcher, Sebastian Gervasutti, who pitched for the eventual winner, Team Rainey/IAC, Lucas Mata, who pitched for the highest ranked team (# 5) A1 So Cal Bombers, Matias Tessore, who pitched for the third place team, Portland DeMarini (pictured above) and young Guido Silbert, all of 18 years old, who pitched for Clyde Bennett’s 23-and-under team, the Young Bucks, and soon-to-be Argentine Jr. National team in Whitehorse later this month.

Lucas Mata is probably the best known of this group, with back-to-back ISC World Championships to his credit in 2005 and 2006 with County Materials, followed by a runner-up finish with his current team, the So Cal Bombers in 2007. Mata has been named to the All World team in three separate ISC World Tournaments (2003 and 2005 with County Materials and last year with his current team, the So Cal Bombers.) He teamed with Andrew Kirkpatrick in 2005 and 2006 to win World titles as members of County Materials). He is credited with taking the So Cal Bombers to the “next level”, defeating then-top ranked Broken Bow during the 2007 season, and again, later, in the ISC World Tournament. He is among the hardest throwers in the game.

(ISC All-World Team Pitcher Lucas Mata of the So Cal Bombers)

(photo by Maddy Flanagan)

Sebastian Gervasutti is but 24 years old, but already owns an ISC World Championship ring which he won as a member of The Farm Tavern team last year, and has several World Tournament under his belt, including one in 2006 with his current team, Team Rainey, in which he beat higher ranked opponents. Sebastian is a different type of pitcher than Mata, but can be equally effective, known for the tight rotation and movement of his pitches, and also for his quick smile and amiable nature. At Santa Barbara this past weekend, Mata and Gervasutti traded 2-1 wins, with Sebastian’s coming on Sunday to eliminate Mata’s Bombers. Earlier this year, Sebastian was one named Co-MVPitcher at the AAU International Tournament
in Orlando, helping his Mac’s Sprayers team win the 2008 championship. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment to date was pitching the Argentine National team to the bronze medal in the Pan Am Games in 2006 at Hermosillo, Mexico. The irony was that Argentina’s bronze bumped the USA off the medal stand, to 4th place.

(Sebastian Gervasutti of Team Rainey/IAC, Best of the West MVPitcher)

(photo by Maddy Flanagan)

Matias Tessore is also in his early 20’s, with ISC World Tournament experience, last year, as a member of the Bloomington, Illinois team. Matias is with Portland DeMarini, which finished in a third place tie in the Best of the West, winning a berth to the ISC World Tournament. Matias is physically larger than the others, and appears to have veteran pitching savvy.

(Matias Tessore of Portland DeMarini)
(photo by Maddy Flanagan)

Guido Silbert is 18 years old, having met Dave Blackburn while David’s Maccabiah team was competing in Buenos Aires earlier this year. Dave introduced him to Clyde Bennett, and Guido (properly pronounced Gee-doh with a hard G as in got, not Gwee-do, as Spanish is the native language). Guido is also a member of the Argentine Jr. National team that will be competing in the ISF Jr. World Championships, in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.

(Guido Silbert of Santa Barbara Young Bucks)

(photo by Maddy Flanagan)

There are, of course, others across the country. Illinois teams in particular have bolstered their pitching staffs with Argentine pitching — Juan Potolicchio, of Dolan & Murphys, Tessore and Max Montero of the Bloomington Stix, and Roberto Bahler, of Thomson, Illinois, and formerly of Portland DeMarini in the early 2000’s, one of the first to come stateside to pitch. Jose Betto Guerrinieri pitched with the Townline team in Wisconsin last year. This year, Montero will be in Pueblo Colorado, with another well known Argentine pitcher, Francisco (‘Sisko) Sabate, on the Bandit team. Sisko’s dad is the manager of the Argentine National team, and Sisko serves as pitching coach. A number of Argentine players have spent time playing in Omaha, Nebraska, after the 19 and under Argentine team toured their a few years ago.

(Did I leave anyone out?)

With this kind of talent, it is a safe bet that teams looking for talented pitching will continue to look south to Buenos Aires and other parts of Argentina.

A question that I have heard more than once, is “why the Italian sounding names” if Argentina is a Spanish speaking country ? The answer:

It is estimated between 20 to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent (over 60% of the total population). Italians began arriving to Argentina in great numbers in the 1870s, and this migratory flow continued to the 1960s.

Italian settlement in Argentina, along with Spanish settlement, formed the backbone of today’s Argentine society. Argentine culture has significant connections to Italian culture, also in terms of language, customs and traditions.

The Italian population in Argentina is the second largest in the world, by numbers, outside of Italy (after Brazil). Italian historian, Marcello De Cecco has specified:

“Italians, as it is known, were a people of emigrants. For many centuries, they spread out into the four corners of the world. Nevertheless only in two countries, they constitute the majority of the population: in Italy and in Argentina…”

Source: Wikipedia

In Spanish, for the people of Argentina:
En español, para el pueblo de la Argentina:

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