Salvatore Peter Agostinelli (born September 4, 1961) has served many roles in professional baseball. He played in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

mostly as a catcher, coached and scouted. He is now the International Scouting Director for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

Early life

Agostinelli was born in

Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and attended Half Hollow Hills East High School in

Dix Hills, New York Dix Hills is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP), in the Huntington, New York, Town of Huntington, on Long Island, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 26,180 at the time of the 2020 census. Hi ...

. He later attended

Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Slippery Rock University, formally Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (The Rock or SRU), is a public university in the Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania area of the United States. SRU is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Edu ...

, where he hit .466 in 1981 – which was a record at the time and is still the third best mark in school history. He hit .417 with 25 stolen bases in 38 games in 1982.

Playing career

He was drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

in the 22nd round of the

1983 Major League Baseball draft The 1983 Major League Baseball draft took place in June 1983. The draft saw the Minnesota Twins select Tim Belcher first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1983 Major League Baseball draft. ''*'' D ...

and began his professional career that season. He traveled throughout the Cardinals organization, reaching Triple-A – the level just before the major leagues – for the first time in 1987. He was assigned to major league training camp in 1988 and played at Triple-A again that year. He joined the

organization in 1989, after being let go by the Cardinals. He played in their system – reaching Triple-A in 1990 and 1991, again earning an invitation to major league training camp that year''Reading Eagle''
April 10, 1998 – until 1992. In his 10-year career, Agostinelli hit .245 with 433 hits, 3 home runs, 191 RBI, 53 stolen bases, 226 walks and 153 strikeouts in 657 games.

Post-playing career

Agostinelli has remained with the Phillies organization since his playing career concluded. Though he played in a single game in 1992, he spent most of the year as a coach for the

Martinsville Phillies The Martinsville Phillies were a short season minor league baseball team located in Martinsville, Virginia. Affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies, they existed from 1988 to 1998, playing in the Appalachian League. They played their home game ...

of the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...

. He became a scout the next year and worked as an area scout until 1996, eventually becoming the northeast scouting supervisor.Tenth Annual Lou DeMartino Memorial Dinner Featured two Worthy Honorees
/ref> In 1997, he was offered the role of international scouting director, which he accepted. As a scout, he signed numerous future major league players, including pitcher Carlos Carrasco, pitcher Lendy Castillo, infielder Jose Flores, second baseman Freddy Galvis, outfielder César Hernández, pitcher

Elizardo Ramírez Elizardo Ramírez de Paula (born January 28, 1983) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. Ramírez was a typical finesse pitcher, with an a ...

, pitcher Carlos Silva and pitcher Alfredo Simón. He is also credited with helping discover All-Star catcher Carlos Ruiz. Outside of his work with the Phillies, he runs Sal Agostinelli Baseball Training on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. He was elected to the Slippery Rock University Hall of Fame in 1995.Hall of Fame page
/ref> He won the Lou DeMartino Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Sal was awarded the Dallas Green Award for 2015. He was inducted into the

Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame The Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame is an American sports hall of fame based in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York. The non-profit was established during 1990 to honor outstanding people, living or deceased, who have gained prominence and made s ...

during 2020.

External links

Agostinelli scouts talent worldwide

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agostinelli, Sal 1961 births Philadelphia Phillies scouts Living people Arkansas Travelers players Clearwater Phillies players Erie Cardinals players Johnson City Cardinals players Louisville Redbirds players Reading Phillies players Savannah Cardinals players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players St. Petersburg Cardinals players Slippery Rock baseball players