2022: Team USA sets coaching staff and continues to grow, plus other news

Posted on August 27, 2022 by danglickman

Another busy week of WBC News, so here’s a bit of a catch-up:

Team USA’s coaching staff was set earlier this week. Joining the previously-announced Mark DeRosa are Jerry Manuel (bench coach), Andy Pettitte (pitching coach), Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. (hitting coach), Lou Collier (first base coach), Dino Ebel (third base coach), and Dave Righetti (bullpen coach). It’s anyone’s guess how much Griffey and Pettitte will actually be coaching, given how good these players will be and the relatively-limited time the team will be together, but nobody is going to complain about having them hanging around the clubhouse.
Meanwhile, a slew of further position players have signed up for Team USA:
- Cedric Mullins of the Orioles was confirmed for the team during last weekend’s Little League Classic.
- A few days later, Mookie Betts announced he was “all in” for the tournament.
- Tim Anderson was confirmed yesterday.
- And earlier today the Astros’ Kyle Tucker was also confirmed.
Lin Yueh-Ping, the manager of the CPBL’s Uni-President Lions, has reportedly been nominated as Taiwan/Taipei’s manager in next year’s WBC by the CPBL. The final decision will be made in September and while the CPBL ultimately isn’t the one in charge their endorsement doubtless makes Lin a favorite.
Team Pakistan has made another roster announcement on their Twitter: infielder Pierce Khan, who played collegiately at University of Louisiana-Monroe and D2 Cameron University.
Further confirmation that Sandy Leon plans to play for Colombia.
Jake Arrieta, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is considering coming out of retirement for the WBC.
Finally, MLB will be sending a team of players to Korea in November to face a KBO All-Star Team. It would not be surprising if the Korean team in this event ends up featuring a good chunk of Korea’s WBC squad for next season.

There will be another WBC post tomorrow.

World Baseball Classic Update 8/21/2022: Venezuela, Argentina, Pakistan, and more

Posted on August 21, 2022 by danglickman

A roundup of some additional WBC news from the past week or so that I missed in yesterday’s post:

Add Astros pitcher Luis Garcia to the list of Venezuelans who have committed to the tournament. You can add Rockies pitcher German Marquez to that list as well.
Rolando Arnedo, the manager of the Diamondbacks’ Arizona Complex League team, will skipper Argentina in the qualifiers. In fact, Argentina has revealed a lot more about its qualifier team in an article released on Aug. 18. Among other information: Astros Arizona Complex League manager Marcelo Alfonsin will be the pitching coach, Gabriel Sanso will be the bench/hitting coach, Eduardo Capdevilla will be outfield/third base coach, Nicolas Solari will be infield/first base coach, and Federico Bisbal will be on quality control and analytics. Player-wise, Argentina is hoping for participation from players of Argentine descent like Miami’s Daniel Castano, the Baltimore organization’s Yennier Cano, and CPBL player An Ko Lin. It’s unlikely that they’ll be able to get Castano given scheduling and the concussion and Cano’s participation would likely depend on whether he’s on the big league club by that time as well, though.
Pakistan has introduced three of the coaches involved in the qualifying team: Brian Furches, pitching coach Randall Arms, and Naser Peter.
Australia and Japan will play a series in November as preparation for the WBC.
Broadcasting announcement: Tyler Maun and former Australian big-leaguer Ryan Rowland-Smith will be on the call for the WBC qualifiers.

World Baseball Classic Update 8/20/2022: DeRosa to manage, Ohtani can play, more commits, and more

Posted on August 20, 2022 by danglickman

In the week since our last update, more World Baseball Classic News has come out. Here’s some of it (I may get some stragglers tomorrow):

Team USA gets a manager

It’s been announced that Mark DeRosa will be the skipper for Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. It’s a bit of a surprise pick, as I and others assumed it’d be a retired manager like Mike Scioscia. However, instead USA Baseball is going young. While DeRosa has never managed professionally, he’s been thrown about in the past as a potential future candidate and is well-liked around the game. Plus, his day job as an analyst and host at MLB Network means he’s well-acquainted with most of the MLB players in the tournament. DeRosa played for Team USA in the 2009 WBC and had a long career in the majors as a super-utility man.

Ohtani can play

Shohei Ohtani didn’t play in the last WBC due to injury, but if he wants to he can in this one. The Angels have granted him permission to take part. Technically, he could have played anyway as WBC rules only allow teams to deny permission under certain circumstances like if they were on the injured list, but players- especially pitchers- generally will take team requests to heart and so if the Angels didn’t want him to play it’s likely he wouldn’t.

This needless to say is a huge get for both Samurai Japan and the tournament in general. The Japanese uniforms for Ohtani will sell extremely well, and the tournament instantly gets another marketable star to slap on some billboards and commercials.

Altuve in for Venezuela, Lopez to manage

Jose Altuve has confirmed he’s planning to play for Venezuela in 2023. Altuve previously played in the WBC in 2017. Managing Altuve will be someone familiar to him: Houston first-base coach Omar Lopez.

Alonso becomes latest position player to confirm for Team USA

The Polar Bear himself, Pete Alonso, has confirmed he’s in for Team USA. One of the best sluggers in the lead, the Mets first-baseman joins Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Nolan Arenado, J.T. Realmuto, Trevor Story, and Paul Goldschmidt as played who have signed up for Team USA. Notably, there still have yet to be any pitchers to announce their interest, but at least as far as position players the USA is looking good so far for defending its WBC title.

More WBC News and Reports:

Astros bench coach Joe Espada is being considered the front-runner for the Puerto Rico manager job.
Other Angels who may be taking part in the WBC include Jose Quijada for Venezuela and possibly Luis Rengifo for either Venezuela or Colombia.
Pakistani-American Gibran Hamdan will be suiting up for Pakistan int the qualifiers. If that name rings a bell to you, it’s probably because Hamdan is a former NFL quarterback. Baseball was his first love and he hit well at Indiana University decades ago, and so he’s suiting up one more time in qualifiers.

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Look for more WBC updates in the coming days!

World Baseball Classic Update for 8/13/2022: Team USA loads up, and other updates

Posted on August 13, 2022 by danglickman

Some big names have committed to Team USA in the past few days: Bryce Harper says he’s in, as does catcher J.T. Realmuto. Over at first base, Paul Goldschmidt has also committed to the team.

Meanwhile, an article on Minnesota Twins players planning to take part in the tournament revealed that Carlos Correa and Jose Miranda are planning to play for Puerto Rico, while Gio Urshela and Sandy Leon (who is actually Venezuelan but has family ties to Colombia) will suit up for Colombia.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is not expected to be eligible to play in the WBC due to his PED suspension.

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I haven’t yet done a good search of the international media over the past few days, so come back tomorrow or Monday for another update.

World Baseball Classic Update for 8/5/2022: Machado and Guerrero, Colombia’s manager, and more

Posted on August 5, 2022 by danglickman

Still catching up on some of the WBC news from the past few days….

Manny Machado has confirmed he’s in for Team Dominican next year. The same goes for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Luis Urueta, who managed Team Colombia in 2017, will return in 2023. His usual job is as a coach in the Diamondbacks system. By the way, Edgar Renteria is the general manager for Team Colombia.
Samurai Japan skipper Hideki Kuriyama is currently taking a tour of the USA to visit potential players, such as Shohei Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki.
Team Pakistan continues to introduce their team for the qualifiers on Twitter, including Sandhu Shaan Tahir, who plays college baseball in Japan. Also introduced: high school infielder Zan Von Schlegell.
If you’ve played high-level baseball and have any connections to Argentina, their team wants to hear from you!
Major League Baseball is inspecting other stadiums in Taiwan for use in warmup games, practices, etc.
Finally, in business news, Japanese logistics company Nippon Express has signed on as a sponsor for the tournament.

The Baseball Continuum

A look at baseball (and other things)

Tag Archives: Team Dominican

World Baseball Classic Update 8/27/2022: Team USA sets coaching staff and continues to grow, plus other news

World Baseball Classic Update 8/21/2022: Venezuela, Argentina, Pakistan, and more

World Baseball Classic Update 8/20/2022: DeRosa to manage, Ohtani can play, more commits, and more

World Baseball Classic Update for 8/13/2022: Team USA loads up, and other updates

World Baseball Classic Update for 8/5/2022: Machado and Guerrero, Colombia’s manager, and more

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