LONGVIEW — Damiano Palmegiani, who starred for the Port Angeles Lefties in 2019, has been selected by the Canadian national team to represent that country in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Palmegiani, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, grew up in Surrey, British Columbia, after his family moved to Canada when he was 6.
He played in 51 games for the Lefties in 2019. Counting West Coast League and nonleague games, he hit .225 for the Lefties with six home runs and 26 RBIs.
After playing for the Lefties, Palmegiani started showing off a serious power stroke. In 2021, he hit .389 with 26 HRs and 81 RBIs with a staggering slugging percentage of .867 for the College of Southern Nevada. He was drafted in the 14th round by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Last year, playing third base for the Blue Jays’ High A minor league affiliate in Vancouver, B.C., the Vancouver Canadians, he hit .239 with 24 HRs and 83 RBIs in 423 at-bats.
Palmegiani was one of 20 West Coast League players picked to play in the WBC. Six will play for Canada, including three former pitchers for the Victoria HarbourCats — Nick Pivetta (who now pitches for the Boston Red Sox), Cade Smith and Indigo Diaz. Two former members of the Kelowna Falcons — Trevor Brigden and Curtis Taylor — were also picked by Canada.
There are also four former WCL players picked by Israel, three by Great Britain, three by Italy and one each by Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico (Current Red Sox Jarren Duran, who played for Walla Walla in 2016) and the Czech Republic.
