KC INKS DONATELLA

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The Monarchs bring back a key piece of their 2021 Championship season with the signing RHP Justin Donatella. The right-hander was a huge piece of Kansas City’s success a season ago after joining the roster midway through the season in 2021. Donatella appeared in 16 total games for the American Association Champions and posted a 5-1 record in the regular season, 1-0 in the playoffs. The 6’6” righty finished the year with 52 strikeouts in 51.2 innings, and had a 3.31 ERA. The highlight of the year for Donatella came on August 19th, 2021 where he hurled a complete-game shutout against division rival, the Sioux City Explorers. The shutout entailed no runs, nine strikeouts and just one walk. The complete-game shutout earned Dontatella the American Association Pitcher of the Week award.

Before Kansas City, Donatella had last pitched with Triple-A Reno in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ organization where he posted a 8.80 ERA in 15 ⅓ innings. Donatella, 26, was a 15th round pick of the Diamondbacks back in 2015 out of the University of California, San Diego.

Donatella spent six seasons in Arizona’s organization — fluctuating between Rookie ball and Triple-A. His best season came in 2016 when the righty split time in A-ball and High-A. Over 27 starts, Donatella posted a career-high in wins (13), innings (145), and strikeouts (111).

In 2018, at the age of 23, Donatella turned in another solid season at Double-A Jackson in the Southern League. He made 24 starts and produced a 3.46 ERA in 130 innings.

While at UC San Diego, Donatella won 18 games and showcased a sub-3 ERA in his final two seasons with the Tritons. In the year he was drafted, the right-hander was 9-3 with a 1.74 ERA and 0.875 WHIP.

Kansas City is in Sioux City set to play game two of a three-game series with the Explores Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 6:35 p.m. and the video stream airing on aabaseball.tv.

Tickets to all Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting

monarchsbaseball.com. For additional information or interview requests, members of the media may contact the Monarchs Media Relations Department at (817) 739-3693. Stay tuned to monarchsbaseball.com. and the Monarchs Facebook and Twitter pages for updates throughout the season.

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