The top 12 nations in the world of baseball will square off in the inaugural 2015 Premier 12 in Japan and Taiwan. In the first round of play, eleventh-ranked Italia faces ninth-ranked Puerto Rico on November 10th, fourth-ranked Chinese Taipei on November 11th, fifth-ranked Kingdom of the Netherlands on November 12th, seventh-ranked Canada on November 14th and third-ranked Cuba on November 15th.
A welcome addition to the Team Italia pitching staff is MLB prospect Trey Nielsen from the St. Louis Cardinals organization. The crafty right-hander was originally selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 42nd round of the 2010 Draft out of Salt Lake City’s Skyline High School. Highly-touted as a 2010 Preseason Rawlings honorable mention All-American and two-time first-team all-state player, Nielsen chose not to sign with the Cubbies in favor of becoming a student athlete at the University of Utah. Playing his first two seasons exclusively as an infielder, he returned to the mound during his junior year and made four pitching appearances. Under the guidance of former MLB player and father Scott Nielsen, Trey opted out of his senior collegiate season in favor of a professional baseball career when taken in the 30th round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. Postponing his minor league pitching debut due to Tommy John surgery, Nielsen pitched well for the 2014 NY-Penn League Champs State College Spikes by posting a 3-2 record with 49 strikeouts, 14 walks and a 2.50 ERA in 50 1/3 innings of work while holding opponents to just a .201 average.
7 scoreless for @GoPBCardinals RHP Trey Nielsen: 4 H, 0 BB, 1 K. #22 on new @Cardinals Top 30: http://t.co/WKHVlBDGYB pic.twitter.com/LSSAx4PXha
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 29, 2015
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