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ALMONTE SIGNS WITH MINERS

Frank MartinFrank Martin1,000+ posts
ALMONTE SIGNS WITH MINERS



The Southern Illinois Miners have announced the signing of one of the most famous players in Little League World Series history, Danny Almonte. Almonte becomes the ninth pitcher to join the Miners pitching staff.

Almonte was thrust into the national spotlight during the 2001 Little League World Series. At the time, Almonte was a member of the Rolando Paulino All Stars when he threw the first perfect game in Little League World Series in nearly 55 years. His statistics during the 2001 Little League Series were an amazing 46 strikeouts and only three hits in three starts. He helped lead his team to a third place finish. Shortly after the conclusion of the World Series, it was discovered that Almonte was 14 years old, two years older than then maximum age limit. The Rolando Paulino All Stars were stripped of their third place finish and all of Almonte’s records were erased from the record books. Almonte, who at the time didn’t speak English, knew nothing about the falsified documents and was exonerated of any wrong doing by Little League Officials.

Almonte played his high school baseball at perennial powerhouse James Monroe High School in New York City. Alumni of Monroe’s baseball program include Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg. During his career at Monroe, he helped lead the Eagles to the 2004 PSAL Championship. Almonte was named MVP of the 2004 PSAL Title Game, striking out 11 batters and allowing just one hit in a seven inning complete game shut out of #2 ranked George Washington. The following season, Almonte helped Monroe repeat as PSAL Champions.

“Danny is a nice addition to our pitching staff. Two different major league scouts, whose opinions I value greatly gave me excellent reports after seeing him throw recently. There are not too many young lefties with his quality of stuff sitting out there. He has a 90’s plus fastball and an excellent slider. From our conversations, Danny is a quiet and shy young man who just wants a chance to showcase his talents. This will just be the start to his professional career” added Southern Illinois Miners Manager Mike Pinto

“The signing of Danny shows our continued commitment to signing the best players in country in order to put the best team on the field. We extremely excited to have Danny start his professional baseball career with the Miners. Like all of our players, we hope this will be the first stop on Danny’s road to the Major Leagues” stated Miners General Manager, Tim Arseneau.

The Southern Illinois Miners are newest member of the Frontier League, an Independent Baseball League with teams in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri. The Frontier League began play in 1993. Famous alumni of the Frontier League include current Boston Red Sox Brendan Donnelly and Josh Kinney of the World Champions St Louis Cardinals. The Miners will begin play in their $15 million, 4000 seat stadium on May 29.

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P PGStaff10,000+ posts
I wish Danny luck and hope he is really throwing that well. We had heard all kinds of reports of him throwing 90s in high school, but the three times we watched him pitch he was mid 80s.

Must be the same thing the MLB clubs saw. Mid 80s is not in big demand. Hopefully he has bumped it up a notch or three. He can pitch! Low 90s would definitely be a big bump! Almonte in the 90s would or will be pitching in a MLB system.
J HJ H5,000+ posts
I have played with several people who were teammates with Almonte or played against him in HS. Those that were his teammate (namely Monroe's starting catcher) claim he throws 92. Others, mainly his opponents, say "he throws like 84." When I saw him throw, I would say he was throwing around 87. His mechanics are very smooth, though, and he had some quality pitches other than the fastball. I think the reason the MLB teams didn't budge was because of the "baggage" label, his lack of a dominating fastball and his size; he was listed at 5'11" 165 lbs. and that is probably pushing it a little. Still, a quality arm.
obradyobrady500+ posts
Maybe some of your Internet gurus can find the article:

A few years ago, I saw an article about Danny. He had moved to Florida, to live with his dad if I remember correctly, and to play with some big time program there. Again pulling from memory, he wasn't good enough to start and acted like a prim Dona, showing up late, leaving early etc. He finally moved back to NY after it all.

It sounds like the kid still has a lot of issues and isn’t worth the MLB investment, yet.
R Redhawks 2710+ posts
I would think now that he's married he should get a job and support his wife rather than play for $1500 (max) a month in the Frontier league.

The kid surely doesn't throw in the 90's, otherwise he would be in someone's MLB organization, baggage or not. There's alot of players with baggage both in the Pro's and Minors. That'll never stop someone from signing a talented athlete.
M mmac100+ posts
I read in the NY times yesterday that he never graduated from HS, and did not enroll in College. He was going to attend a junior college in New Mexico but returned to the Bronx in Nov. instead. He then planned to attend Queensboro Community College but that fell through too. I guess his only option is the Frontier League since he was by passed in the major league draft and does not have the grades to play college baseball.
JohnLex7JohnLex7100+ posts
I agree that we should wish Danny Almonte the best, but it is hard to think of him without thinking of the young men from State College, PA who did not get a chance to go to the LLWS because of the cheating of the adults surrounding Danny Almonte. It's also hard not to think of the kids that WERE legitimately throwing that hard that year, at the Cal Ripken World Series. They didn't get the publicity that Danny Almonte did, and they were truly 12. Yet, who is still in the headlines? A guy who when he was 14, was good at striking out 12 year olds from 45 feet. Somehow, I have a feeling that a lot of kids would have been good at that.
S spizzlepop1,000+ posts
I should have added that I wish him no ill will. Just can't seem to get my arms all the way around a kid who made history with an unethical act, and hasn't really done a lot since then to rectify that. And yet there are seemingly lots of folks still eager to put him on a pedestal.
I hope the kid does have success in baseball, it might provide him an opportunity to make things right. I just hope he doesn’t need baseball to do that. JMHO.

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