Batted Right Threw Right Home runs 0 Height 1.88 m Education Wake Forest University | Batting average .176 Runs batted in 1 Weight 101 kg | |
Date joined 2008 (Arizona Diamondbacks) | ||
James Joseph D'Antona (born May 12, 1982 in Greenwich, Connecticut) is a professional baseball infielder.
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D'Antona played college baseball for Wake Forest University where he had a .354 career batting average and 58 home runs. In 2003, he was the ACC leader in slugging percentage, home runs, and RBI. D'Antona played third and first base in college and continued to play both positions while in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. D'Antona was a member of the Chatham A's, as noted in The Last Best League.
Early life
D'Antona played baseball alongside future major league pitcher Craig Breslow at Trumbull High School, and they won the LL State Baseball championship game.
Minor leagues
Drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2nd round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft, D'Antona finished the 2003 season with Low Single-A Yakima, where he hit 15 home runs in only 70 games. He was also a Short-Season Single-A All-Star and Northwest League All-Star. In 2004, he played with High Single-A Lancaster, where he batted .315 and earned a late-season promotion to Double-A El Paso. With Double-A Tennessee in 2005, D'Antona struggled to hit for average, only .249, which caused his home run total to drop to 9. In 2006, again with Double-A Tennessee, he bounced back with a .312 batting average and was promoted to Triple-A Tucson for 2007.
In 2008, D'Antona batted near .400 for the first 2½ months, was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game, and won the Triple-A Home Run Derby in triple overtime against Detroit Tigers minor league infielder Mike Hessman.
Major leagues
D'Antona made his major league debut on July 22, collecting his first major league hit, a single, on the same day and in his first at-bat. D'Antona was called back up to the D'Backs as a September call up.
Following the 2008 season, D'Antona was released by the Diamondbacks so that he could sign with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
On January 12, 2011, the Florida Marlins signed D'Antona to a minor league contract. D'Antona was released by the Marlins on February 17, 2011.
