Antonelli was the Massachusetts Player of the Year in football and was a runner-up for baseball in his senior year at St. John\'s Prep. He attended Wake Forest University, where he displayed good plate discipline, walking 57 times as a sophomore, ranking seventh among collegiate hitters. He only struck out 38 times in 232 at-bats, giving him one of the best strikeout-to-walk ratios in the nation.\n', '

Antonelli was originally drafted as a third baseman by the San Diego Padres with the 17th pick of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. In July 2007, Antonelli was named the best second base prospect in the minors by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. In November 2007, Antonelli was ranked as the #1 second base prospect and #27 prospect overall in baseball, on a list polling 20 members of the scouting community and compiled by Jonathan Mayo of minorleaguebaseball.com \n', '

Before the 2007 season, Antonelli was not considered to have much power potential after having zero home runs in over 200 professional at bats in 2006. However, he hit 14 home runs in 82 games for High A Lake Elsinore, before moving up to Double A San Antonio Missions to finish the season. In 534 at-bats between the two levels, Antonelli finished with a slash line of .304/.404/.491 with 21 homers and 25 stolen bases along with a 94/83 K/BB ratio. He won the Texas League Championship with the Missions in 2007.\n', '

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