It is an autumn of hard work for Alex Liddi, not on the field, but in the gym. Not in Mexico for the season, but in Grosseto under the watchful eye of Gianni Natae and Massimo Baldi and supervision of Marco Mazzieri.
The strong thirdbaseman for the Italian National team is recovering from a reconstruction surgery of his ACL in his left knee, hoping to return to practice on the field in January, and then have him ready for the mid-February World Baseball Classic try-outs.
Liddi said his primary objective is to do everything necessary to get to play in his third Classic, and that he is working night and day in pursuit of that goal. Natale reports that he is a little ahead of schedule on his recovery timeline which he had in Reggio Emilia's Villa Verde on October 13th.
He has already been off his crutches and working on range of motion, rehabing three hours in the morning and anohter three hours in the afternoon.
Liddi stated that getting back on the field and driving the Italian team in pursuit of the WBC semifinals is something he views as possible, and he also hopes to have it be a relaunching opportunity for a hopeful return to the Major Leagues, like Chris Colabello did following the last edition of the Classic.