Stompers player-manager slides into home!

Former SVHS star Lentini returns to the diamond of his youth|

Feh Lentini, the new player-manager for the Sonoma Stompers, will walk onto Arnold Field at Monday’s Opening Day game and play center field in the ballpark where he was once Sonoma Valley High School’s star athlete.

“The last thing I ever thought would happen in my career would be getting paid to play baseball in Sonoma. It’s pretty sweet,” he said, sitting in an orange chair at Stompers headquarters, clearly sentimental about his return to town.

Lentini, 37, has played professional baseball for affiliated, independent and international teams for 14 seasons, last summer for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League. He has a career batting average of .307, with 114 home runs, 772 RBIs and 473 stolen bases. Lentini holds the independent league career record for stolen bases with 352.

“They call me the Crash Davis of the independent league,” he said, referring to the career-minor-league character Kevin Costner made famous in the movie “Bull Durham.”

This is Lentini’s first time as a player-manager and he’s “super-duper-duper-duper busy.” He’s not worried about how he’ll play himself, saying he feels phenomenal and has a ton of energy. “This is the best I’ve felt playing in a long time.” He is also very upbeat about his team.

“I like the chemistry. I like the guys. I like everyone’s work ethic,” he said. “I’m pretty pumped.” He acknowledged that being a manager is new to him and that he’s put a lot of time into planning practices. He’s enjoyed getting the players prepared and watching their skills. “This is my job and I want to win,” he said.

During the nine-day spring training leading up to the June 1 opening day, which included several exhibition games, Lentini threw batting practice himself. “I don’t have a pitching coach yet because we are holding out for the right guy, and the general bench coach hasn’t arrived yet.”

Lentini moved to Sonoma when he was 10 years old, and attended St. Francis Solano Catholic School with Stompers owner Eric Gullotta. He graduated from SVHS in 1995, played for Napa Valley College and went on to be a record-breaking player at Sonoma State University. He was signed by the Houston Astros in 2001, and played in their minor league for several years.

He has been a San Francisco Giants fan his entire life, and when he was a boy his favorite player was Jeffrey Leonard. Now Lentini’s favorite is the late Satchel Paige. “What he was able to accomplish on the field is like a storybook.” (He may also admire that at age 42, Paige was the oldest major league rookie in history.) Unlike many pro players who don’t watch baseball on television because playing all day is enough, Lentini says, “I love watching baseball. There’s always something you can learn.” His favorite movie is “Major League.” “I can watch it over and over and over again.”

While Lentini has always come back to his mom’s home here to visit when he’s not playing, it’s the first time he’s lived in Sonoma since 2001. He’s never married and currently doesn’t have a girlfriend. “It’s hard to have a girlfriend when you are always moving around, but now that I’m here you never know.”

He recently bumped into his Little League coach, Charlie Bettinelli, who he hadn’t seen in years, and he has great memories of Paul’s Field with its “short porch in right.”

Lentini is amazed he’s back in town, enjoying reconnecting with old friends and, most important, still playing ball.

“There are a lot of people I love in town who have never seen me play professionally,” he said, and he especially looks forward to having his mom Debi and little sister Madeline, a SVHS student, in the stands. His father, who lives in the East Bay, will be making it to games, too.

“My life is supposed to be about baseball. I love it,” he said, thrilled that this opportunity with the Stompers came along. He said Arnold Field is a “solid” place to play, and he enjoys the trees and the mountains in the background, not a scene you find in other parts of the country.

Lentini says the best thing in baseball – “always” – is winning the championship, an experience he’s had three times, and one he wants to bring to the Stompers.

“It’s all about winning,” he says. “You build a bond with your teammates and you have 22 guys all coming together for the same goal.”

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Opening Day for the Stompers is Monday, June 1 at 6:05 p.m. at Arnold Field. Check out stompersbaseball.com.

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