Sonny DiChiara (born July 29, 1999) is an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

who plays in the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

organization.

Amateur career

DiChiara grew up in

Hoover, Alabama Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. Hoover is the largest suburban city in Alabama and the 6th largest city in Alabama. The city had a population of 92,606 as of the 2020 US Census. Hoover ...

and attended Hoover High School. DiChiara began his collegiate career at Samford. He was named the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

Freshman of the Year after hitting 21 home runs and driving in 55 runs. DiChiara was batting .328 before the 2020 season was cut short due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. As a junior, he batted .273 and led the Southern Conference with 18 home runs. After the season DiChiara transferred to

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. DiChiara entered his senior season at the Tigers' starting first baseman. He was named the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

Co-Player of the Year at the end of the season, sharing the award with Louisiana State University’s Dylan Crews.

Professional career

DiChiara was selected in the fifth round of the

2022 Major League Baseball draft The 2022 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 17–19, 2022, in Los Angeles. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was based on the reverse order of the 2021 ...

by the

. He was assigned to the Double-A

Rocket City Trash Pandas The Rocket City Trash Pandas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. They are located in Madison, Alabama, and play their home games at Toyota Field. History In November 20 ...

to start his professional career.

References

External links

Samford Bulldogs bioAuburn Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:DiChiara, Sonny 1999 births Living people Baseball first basemen Auburn Tigers baseball players Samford Bulldogs baseball players Rocket City Trash Pandas players People from Hoover, Alabama Baseball players from Alabama Hoover High School (Alabama) alumni