TUCSON — He sports a Yosemite Sam mustache and blocks pitches in the dirt with his 6-foot-2, 245-pound body.
He’s 37 years old but crouches behind the plate with the flexibility of a 16-year-old Olympic gymnast.
He has suited up for nine different big-league teams and slipped on more minor-league uniforms than Crash Davis. He’s in his second go-round with the Rockies.
Around the Cactus League, everybody — players, managers, coaches, umpires and fans — knows his name. Meet Salvatore Frank Fasano, son of Italian immigrants, baseball guy.
Wednesday afternoon, Fasano caught a nondescript B-game against the Diamondbacks. There were maybe 30 people in the stands at Hi Corbett Field. It was a practice game for prospects and scouts, and a chance for the pitchers to get in their spring work. Yet Fasano played with passion and joy, taking time to counsel and encourage rookie pitcher Sam DeDuno.
“That’s my favorite part of catching,” he said. “You somehow have to get the best out of pitchers. To me, that is the most enjoyable thing about this. If I can help them get to the next level, that’s the must fun in the world.”
Earlier this week, Fasano crushed a homer at the Indians’ new ballpark in Goodyear, Ariz. He kidded that if he was some hotshot prospect, the media would have been clamoring for him.
But Fasano is third on the depth chart behind Chris Iannetta and Yorvit Torrealba. He’s a longshot to make the roster. That reality doesn’t stand in the way of an honest day’s work.
“I want to make this team, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “If I don’t make this team, I’m not afraid to go somewhere else. I hate to be an independent contractor, but I’m still very competitive. I think I can help a team, especially a young team learning how to win.”
He’s already helping the Rockies.
“Whether it’s an A-game, a B-game, a backyard game or a playoff game, he approaches every game the same,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s not self-serving or only concerned with his own particular needs.”
I asked Fasano why he’s so popular in clubhouses across the big leagues.
“You just try to be a real guy,” he said. “I’m not the greatest player in the world by any means. But I think if you show your true character, it comes out in the end.”
As he said that, it occurred to me that Salvatore Frank Fasano, baseball guy, is the anti-Manny Ramirez.
