Racine native Vinny Rottino, the 2004 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Player of the Year, on October 27 was inducted into the Racine County Sports Hall of Fame. He is currently a member of the Brewers’ Bally Sports broadcast team.
Rottino graduated from Racine St. Catherine’s High School where he was the county’s Baseball Player of the Year in 1998. He played college baseball at UW-LaCrosse and was selected All-Conference in 2001 and 2002. He became the first UW-L baseball player to receive Division 3 All-American honors in ’02 when he batted .410 and set a school record with 15 home runs.
Rottino’s professional baseball career
Undrafted after his collegiate career, Vinny signed as a free agent with the Brewers in February 2003. In his second professional season with the Beloit Snappers, he broke the team record for RBIs with 124, a record previously held by Prince Fielder. He also batted .304 that year winning the POY award as the Brewers top minor leaguer.
On September 1, 2006, Rottino was a late-season call-up to the parent club and got his first major league at-bat as a pinch-hitter. He also made September appearances with the Brewers in 2007 and 2008, playing a total of 18 games with his home-state team.
Vinny went on to play in 62 MLB games over five seasons from 2006-08 and 2011-12. He also saw action in the majors with the Florida Marlins, New York Mets, and Cleveland Indians.
Rottino continued to play professionally with stints in the Japanese and Korean professional leagues and was a member of Team Italy in the 2009 World Baseball Classic where he was the starting catcher.
Part of the Brewers’ Bally Sports broadcaster
His post-baseball career included time as a scout for the Texas Rangers. These days he is the Wisconsin Scouting Director for Prep Baseball Report where he tracks baseball talent in Wisconsin. He has received praise as a pre-game and post-game analyst for Bally Sports’ TV broadcasts of Brewers games. He worked a handful of games as a color commentator, subbing for the Brewers primary color man, Bill Schroeder.
Since the Racine County Sports Hall of Fame was formed in 2011, sixty-three athletes have been inducted.
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