The seventh best reliever in the 2019 Valley League season is the whip-thin lefty from Richmond, side-armer Antonio Balducci.

Balducci, six-foot-two and listed at 175 pounds, appeared in nine games for the Tom Sox:

ERA W L G SV IP H R ER BB K BAVG WIP BB/9 K/9
2019 1.62 1 0 9 1 16.7 11 3 3 11 25 0.193 1.317 5.9 13.5

He finished sixth among pitchers on this list in ERA, tied for seventh in batting average against, and tied for first in K/9. He was named a mid-season All-Star.

His best outing was probably on June 6, against the hard-hitting Woodstock River Bandits, when he threw three no-hit, shutout innings, while walking only one and striking out four.

The current junior has spent two seasons in Richmond pitching for the Spiders:

ERA W L G SV IP H R ER BB K WIP BB/9 K/9
2018 3.62 3 1 23 1 32.0 26 15 13 18 28 1.375 5.1 7.9
2019 8.37 2 2 23 0 23.7 28 22 22 20 29 2.025 7.6 11.0

The young man from Mechanicsville, Virginia, does his work in the classroom, too- he was named to the Atlantic-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in 2019. He’s also planning to return to the Tom Sox in 2020.

To read much, much more about the 2019 VBL season, check out the 2019 Valley League Annual- a great early Christmas gift!