Joseph Carlo Biagini (born May 29, 1990) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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. He played in

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(MLB) for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

. The

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

selected Biagini in the 26th round of the 2011 MLB draft, and he made his MLB debut for Toronto in 2016. Born in the United States, he represented the Italy national baseball team.

High school and college

Biagini attended The King's Academy in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...

. After the graduation, he attended the College of San Mateo and later the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. While attending the College of San Mateo in 2010, Biagini underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, sometimes referred to as Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body, ...

. After the 2011 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Brewster Whitecaps The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Bro ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

Professional career

San Francisco Giants

The

selected Biagini in the 26th round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. He made his professional debut with the Class-A Augusta GreenJackets in 2012. In nine starts with the team, he pitched to a 0–4 win–loss record, 7.41

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), and 36 strikeouts in 34 innings. He was demoted to the Short Season-A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in June, where he made 14 appearances (12 starts) and pitched to a 2–4 record, 4.27 ERA, and 63 strikeouts in 59 innings. Biagini played the entire 2013 season with the GreenJackets, pitching 96 total innings in 20 starts. He posted a 7–6 record, 5.03 ERA, and 79 strikeouts. In 2014, Biagini was promoted to the Advanced-A San Jose Giants, and made 23 starts for the team, finishing the year with a 10–9 record, 4.01 ERA, and 103 strikeouts in 128 innings pitched. He would play the entire 2015 season with the Double-A

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. Th ...

and threw a career-high 130 innings over 23 appearances (22 starts). Biagini finished the season with a 10–7 win–loss record, 2.42 ERA, and 84 strikeouts.

Toronto Blue Jays

On December 10, 2015, Biagini was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

Major leagues

On March 30, 2016, manager John Gibbons announced that Biagini had made the

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roster, and would pitch out of the bullpen. He made his Major League debut on April 8, pitching a perfect 9th inning against the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

, and struck out

David Ortiz David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican Americans, Dominican-American former professional baseball designated hitter and first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1997 ...

for his first career strikeout. He earned his first win on May 3, pitching a perfect 10th inning in an eventual 3–1 walk-off victory over the Texas Rangers. On May 19, Biagini earned his first save, pitching the 11th inning in a 3–2 win over the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

. Biagini did not yield a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

until September 3, when Kevin Kiermaier of the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

hit a two-run shot in a 7–5 loss for the Blue Jays. Biagini finished his first MLB season with a 4–3 record, 3.06 ERA, and 62 strikeouts in 67 innings pitched. Biagini began the 2017 season in the Blue Jays' bullpen. With injuries and ineffective performances in Toronto's

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, Biagini made his first career start on May 7 and held Tampa Bay to a single unearned run on two hits in four innings, leading the Blue Jays to a 2–1 victory. From May to early July, Biagini made 11 starts filling in for the injured Aaron Sanchez and Francisco Liriano. He was then moved back to the bullpen. On August 4, Biagini was optioned to the Triple-A

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

. He returned to the major leagues, and the rotation, on August 27, allowing 5 runs over 3 innings in a 7–2 loss to the Minnesota Twins. On September 1, in a game against the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

, Biagini had his best start as a Blue Jay to date, throwing 7 shutout innings and striking out a career-high 10 batters, though Toronto would eventually lose 1–0 in the 13th. Biagini finished the season splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen, finishing with a record of 3–13 in 44 games, 18 starts. In innings, he struck out 97. Following the signing of Jaime García to be their fifth starter, the Blue Jays optioned Biagini to Buffalo to begin the 2018 season, where he was named the Opening Day starter for the Bisons. The Blue Jays called up Biagini to make a spot start on April 17, for the second game of their doubleheader against the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

. Following the game, he was returned to the Bisons. After returning to the major leagues, Biagini spent the majority of the season in the Blue Jays bullpen, appearing in 50 games while making 4 spot starts. He finished the season with a 4–2 record and an ERA of 6 over 72 innings.

Houston Astros

On July 31, 2019, Biagini was traded to the

(along with Aaron Sanchez and Cal Stevenson) in exchange for Derek Fisher. In his first appearance with the Astros, Biagini pitched an inning of relief in a combined

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit (baseball), hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in ...

against the

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. The final score was 9–0. With the 2020 Houston Astros, Biagini appeared in 4 games, compiling a 0–0 record with 20.77 ERA and 4 strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched. On September 29, Biagini was designated for assignment. Biagini rejected his outright assignment and elected free agency on October 9, 2020.

Chicago Cubs

On December 17, 2020, Biagini signed a minor league contract with the

organization. He played with the

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. T ...

and was temporarily added to the team's roster as a COVID-19 replacement on October 2 and was removed on October 18, 2021. He elected free agency on November 7.

Toronto Blue Jays (second stint)

On March 13, 2022, Biagini signed a minor league contract with the

. He was released on July 26, 2022.

International career

Born in the United States and of Italian descent, Biagini played for the Italy national baseball team at the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball tournament and the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It began on March 8, 2023, and ran until March 21. It was originally scheduled to take place in ...

Personal life

Biagini's father, Rob, played for the San Francisco Giants organization from 1981 to 1982. In November 2016, Biagini was a member of the audience at a taping of ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

''. During the show, Fallon passed Biagini in the audience and attempted to high-five him along with other audience members, but missed Biagini's hand. During the November 18 episode, Fallon stated that he had taken criticism on

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for botching the high-five, and brought Biagini out on stage briefly to complete their high-five.

References

External links

Profile at UCDavisAggies.com
: {{DEFAULTSORT:Biagini, Joe 1990 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American people of Italian descent Baseball players from Redwood City, California Major League Baseball pitchers Toronto Blue Jays players Houston Astros players Chicago Cubs players San Mateo Bulldogs baseball players UC Davis Aggies baseball players Brewster Whitecaps players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players Augusta GreenJackets players San Jose Giants players Richmond Flying Squirrels players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Round Rock Express players Iowa Cubs players 2023 World Baseball Classic players