2015 Italian / American ALDS Player: Chris Colabello (2013-2015)

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Christopher Adrian Collabello was born on October 24th 1983 in Framingham, Massachusetts. He grew up in Rimini Italy, located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. His mother Silvanna was originally born in Rimini & his father Lou played baseball in Italy for seven seasons. In 1984 he was part of Team Italy's baseball team.

Collabello went to high school in Massachusetts & attended Assumption College there but was not drafted by any MLB team. He began a baseball career in the Independent Cam Am League from 2005 - 2011. In 2012 he signed with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent playing at AA New Britain.

In 2013 he was the AAA Player of the Year hitting .352 with 24 HRs & 76 RBIs in 89 games. He had a short stay in the big leagues with the Twins that season as well. He made his MLB debut in May of 2013 & hit .194 in 55 games at that level.

He started getting offers from the Korean Baseball League but did not want to give up his dream to play in the USA Big Leagues. That year he played for Team Italy just like his dad, in the WBC.

In 2014 he had a great start making the Twins starting line up & breaking Kirby Puckett's Twins record of 26 RBIs in a month. His production fell off to .229 average on the year & was placed on waivers at the end of the season. In December 2014 he was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays.

In 101 games for the AL Eastern Champion Blue Jays, he hit 15 HRs with 19 doubles 54 RBIs & a .367 on base % while playing at first base, out field & DH. In the first two months of the season he hit 5 HRs & drove in 30 of those runs.

He got the start at first base in NLDS Game #2 against lefty Cole Hamels & the Texas Rangers. He hit a ground rule double in the 2nd inning & scored the tying run after Kevin Pillar grounded into a double play.

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