Completed Event: Track and Field at NAU Tune Up on February 20, 2026 ,
Track & Field
at NAU Tune Up
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Javelin standout threw baseballs in pros
5/13/2022 7:00:00 AM | Track and Field, Paul Coro
GCU's Gasparini ranks 8th in nation, set European record for MLB signing
If Marten Gasparini could wind up signed by a Major League Baseball franchise out of Italy, his latest athletic feats as a Grand Canyon student should not seem so remarkable.
The former six-year minor-league outfielder left baseball in 2019, enrolled at GCU as a Psychology student only in 2020, walked on to the track and field team last year and enters this week's WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Seattle with the nation's eighth-best javelin throw after 14 months of experience.
"It's been ups and downs, backs and forths, lefts and rights," Gasparini said. "I never thought I would see myself in the spot I am today, but I'm definitely grateful. Everything finds a way and works out. Being at GCU has been one blessing after another."
Three weeks ago, Gasparini caught collegiate track and field's attention when he hurled the javelin 76.28 meters (250 feet, 3 inches) at Arizona State. That distance tops the winning throws of his former All-America teammate, Jesse Newman, at each of his last three WAC Championships.
It was 14 years ago that he caught Italian baseball's attention with different throws as a standout in Ruda, his northeast Italy hometown of about 3,000 people.
Gasparini tried soccer, jujitsu, archery and fencing before baseball stuck. There was a batting cage in his town and he enjoyed American baseball movies as a bilingual child with a mother, Wendy Wallace, from London.
"At first, it was just for fun, but I guess I found my people in baseball," Gasparini said. "After one or two years, I realized I was standing above the competition in youth leagues and that's when I took the extra step of signing up for the Italian Baseball Academy."
At 14, Gasparini moved 500 miles south to enroll in the academy in Tierrenia, where the late Bill Holmberg was the Major League Baseball Coach in Residence and took Gasparini under his wing. A year later, Gasparini became the second youngest player in the World Junior Championship and the shortstop-turned-center fielder was being regarded as Europe's best five-tool player.
"As far as the amount of attention I got and the amount of offers I received, that was the surprising part for me and my family," Gasparini said. "It was almost surreal, but we felt very fortunate. It changed my life, as far as who I became and the impact on my family."
When signing with a MLB franchise became a real possibility at age 16, Gasparini imagined how breaking the Italian signing record of about $250,000 would be incredible. Minnesota Twins outfielder Max Kepler, a German, held the European record with an $800,000 bonus.
Gasparini signed with the Kansas City Royals for $1.3 million.
"When they told me, I thought it was crazy," Gasparini said. "I thought it was probably a mistake. This is life-changing stuff. My family was struggling financially at the time, so I got to buy their house and open a new chapter.
"With that money comes a lot of pressure as well. If I could've done something better, I would've tried to keep it a little more private."
That signing led Gasparini to the Phoenix area, starting his work to get caught up to American players in Surprise at the Royals' Rookie League facility. At age 17, he began his first Rookie League play in Burlington, North Carolina, and then went to Idaho Falls, Idaho, before advancing to three years of Class A ball in Lexington, Kentucky.
"If I could go back, I would tell myself to chill out a little bit more," Gasparini said. "I expected to immediately rake and do crazy things. In reality, I could've taken my time to understand the basics of the sport. I really did have a lot of catching up to do. It felt like a frantic period for the first couple of years."
Gasparini hit .215 with 20 home runs and 126 RBIs over three Single-A seasons before moving to High-A in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2019. His hitting dropped, but it was his best swing that told him he was done with baseball.
He smashed a triple off the wall and felt nothing when he arrived at the bag. Twelve days later, he walked away from baseball in mid-May.
"I woke up and realized I wasn't getting the enjoyment that I used to from the sport," Gasparini said. "It was like going through a very tough breakup. It was painful emotionally. At that point, even that emotion wasn't there any more. I was over it."
But with college tuition as part of his pro baseball contract and a home base in the Valley, Gasparini wanted to enroll in classes and already was entertaining his baseball coaches' suggestions to try another sport.
When Gasparini reached out to the in-state universities, GCU was most responsive, and he already had campus familiarity from attending sporting events with friends. After becoming a student only in spring 2020, Gasparini reached out to Lopes track and field head coach Tom Flood about joining his successful program.
"I was very interested in him from our first conversation," Flood said. "And while his original intention was to sprint or long jump for us, I agreed to let him walk on and do those events as long as he agreed to at least try the javelin. Being a center fielder for a major league organization, I figured he was very athletic, could cover a lot of ground and had to have a cannon for an arm."
Gasparini first became eligible for last year's outdoor season and debuted with a javelin throw of 54.45 meters, which was fourth best in the WAC but about 22 meters shy of what he threw last month.
Going from throwing a baseball to a javelin was not seamless. The run-up is longer and the mechanics require an overhaul.
"The javelin humbled me," Gasparini said. "It's a back-and-shoulder throw instead of a shoulder-and-elbow throw. In baseball, you can really whip that ball with your wrist and elbow. If you try that with a javelin, you're going to get hurt. You have to get the power from your hips, core, back and shoulder. To reconstruct that kinetic chain from a baseball background to the javelin was a challenge. Difficult, but fun."
Successful results came quickly, a welcome change from the baseball grind. His maturation blended with his work ethic, which showed when he was watching training videos and throwing javelins alone in a Surprise field this summer.
Gasparini made a 14-meter improvement in his first meet this season and cleared 69 meters three times before launching the 76-meter throw at ASU.
"I'll assume he was just trying to throw a guy out at the plate from center field," Flood said. "He is just now scratching the surface of how good he can really be in this new event and I can't wait to see here he eventually ends up."
Gasparini is benefiting from an Olympic-level throws coach, GCU assistant Nathan Ott, and realizing how far he could take this sport to wear an "Italia" jersey again in a new sport.
"The national team was the best feeling I had in baseball," Gasparini said. "It's something I never thought I could do and now it's a very realistic possibility, so why not? Let's just push it. Have fun with it and take it as far as I can."
The former six-year minor-league outfielder left baseball in 2019, enrolled at GCU as a Psychology student only in 2020, walked on to the track and field team last year and enters this week's WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Seattle with the nation's eighth-best javelin throw after 14 months of experience."It's been ups and downs, backs and forths, lefts and rights," Gasparini said. "I never thought I would see myself in the spot I am today, but I'm definitely grateful. Everything finds a way and works out. Being at GCU has been one blessing after another."
Three weeks ago, Gasparini caught collegiate track and field's attention when he hurled the javelin 76.28 meters (250 feet, 3 inches) at Arizona State. That distance tops the winning throws of his former All-America teammate, Jesse Newman, at each of his last three WAC Championships.
It was 14 years ago that he caught Italian baseball's attention with different throws as a standout in Ruda, his northeast Italy hometown of about 3,000 people.Gasparini tried soccer, jujitsu, archery and fencing before baseball stuck. There was a batting cage in his town and he enjoyed American baseball movies as a bilingual child with a mother, Wendy Wallace, from London.
"At first, it was just for fun, but I guess I found my people in baseball," Gasparini said. "After one or two years, I realized I was standing above the competition in youth leagues and that's when I took the extra step of signing up for the Italian Baseball Academy."
At 14, Gasparini moved 500 miles south to enroll in the academy in Tierrenia, where the late Bill Holmberg was the Major League Baseball Coach in Residence and took Gasparini under his wing. A year later, Gasparini became the second youngest player in the World Junior Championship and the shortstop-turned-center fielder was being regarded as Europe's best five-tool player.
"As far as the amount of attention I got and the amount of offers I received, that was the surprising part for me and my family," Gasparini said. "It was almost surreal, but we felt very fortunate. It changed my life, as far as who I became and the impact on my family."
When signing with a MLB franchise became a real possibility at age 16, Gasparini imagined how breaking the Italian signing record of about $250,000 would be incredible. Minnesota Twins outfielder Max Kepler, a German, held the European record with an $800,000 bonus.
Gasparini signed with the Kansas City Royals for $1.3 million."When they told me, I thought it was crazy," Gasparini said. "I thought it was probably a mistake. This is life-changing stuff. My family was struggling financially at the time, so I got to buy their house and open a new chapter.
"With that money comes a lot of pressure as well. If I could've done something better, I would've tried to keep it a little more private."
That signing led Gasparini to the Phoenix area, starting his work to get caught up to American players in Surprise at the Royals' Rookie League facility. At age 17, he began his first Rookie League play in Burlington, North Carolina, and then went to Idaho Falls, Idaho, before advancing to three years of Class A ball in Lexington, Kentucky.
"If I could go back, I would tell myself to chill out a little bit more," Gasparini said. "I expected to immediately rake and do crazy things. In reality, I could've taken my time to understand the basics of the sport. I really did have a lot of catching up to do. It felt like a frantic period for the first couple of years."Gasparini hit .215 with 20 home runs and 126 RBIs over three Single-A seasons before moving to High-A in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2019. His hitting dropped, but it was his best swing that told him he was done with baseball.
He smashed a triple off the wall and felt nothing when he arrived at the bag. Twelve days later, he walked away from baseball in mid-May.
"I woke up and realized I wasn't getting the enjoyment that I used to from the sport," Gasparini said. "It was like going through a very tough breakup. It was painful emotionally. At that point, even that emotion wasn't there any more. I was over it."
But with college tuition as part of his pro baseball contract and a home base in the Valley, Gasparini wanted to enroll in classes and already was entertaining his baseball coaches' suggestions to try another sport.
When Gasparini reached out to the in-state universities, GCU was most responsive, and he already had campus familiarity from attending sporting events with friends. After becoming a student only in spring 2020, Gasparini reached out to Lopes track and field head coach Tom Flood about joining his successful program.
"I was very interested in him from our first conversation," Flood said. "And while his original intention was to sprint or long jump for us, I agreed to let him walk on and do those events as long as he agreed to at least try the javelin. Being a center fielder for a major league organization, I figured he was very athletic, could cover a lot of ground and had to have a cannon for an arm."
Gasparini first became eligible for last year's outdoor season and debuted with a javelin throw of 54.45 meters, which was fourth best in the WAC but about 22 meters shy of what he threw last month.Going from throwing a baseball to a javelin was not seamless. The run-up is longer and the mechanics require an overhaul.
"The javelin humbled me," Gasparini said. "It's a back-and-shoulder throw instead of a shoulder-and-elbow throw. In baseball, you can really whip that ball with your wrist and elbow. If you try that with a javelin, you're going to get hurt. You have to get the power from your hips, core, back and shoulder. To reconstruct that kinetic chain from a baseball background to the javelin was a challenge. Difficult, but fun."
Successful results came quickly, a welcome change from the baseball grind. His maturation blended with his work ethic, which showed when he was watching training videos and throwing javelins alone in a Surprise field this summer.
Gasparini made a 14-meter improvement in his first meet this season and cleared 69 meters three times before launching the 76-meter throw at ASU."I'll assume he was just trying to throw a guy out at the plate from center field," Flood said. "He is just now scratching the surface of how good he can really be in this new event and I can't wait to see here he eventually ends up."
Gasparini is benefiting from an Olympic-level throws coach, GCU assistant Nathan Ott, and realizing how far he could take this sport to wear an "Italia" jersey again in a new sport.
"The national team was the best feeling I had in baseball," Gasparini said. "It's something I never thought I could do and now it's a very realistic possibility, so why not? Let's just push it. Have fun with it and take it as far as I can."
Players Mentioned
T
/ Track and Field
/ Track and Field
GCU Baseball at Fresno State (Game 1) - Highlights
Friday, April 03
HALF-COURTER! It had to be green in the Melo Saint Patrick’s Day jersey 🎯🔥
Tuesday, March 31
TWO grand slams. ONE game. #collegebaseball
Tuesday, March 31
GCU Baseball vs. San Diego State (Game 2) - Cameron, Sanko grand slams
Sunday, March 29