The World Baseball Classic has been lost in the shuffle with the beginning of Spring Training, but it kicks off this weekend on March 2nd.
It’s an event that’s supposed to showcase the world’s best…but at the same time, aggravate the pants off every Major League team’s front office. They must hate seeing their pitchers waste their arms in an International tournament.
Asian countries have had the most success in this format, but the Latin American countries always bring the most individual talent. The rosters have been finalized and we list the notable players who will play in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
* in alphabetical order
U.S.A. – Jeremy Affeldt, J.P. Arencibia, Heath Bell, Mitchell Boggs, Ryan Braun, Ross Detwiler, R.A. Dickey, Gio Gonzalez, Adam Jones, Craig Kimbrel, Jonathan Lucroy, Joe Mauer, Vinnie Pestano, Chris Perez, Brandon Phillips, Jimmy Rollins, Giancarlo Stanton, Mark Teixeira, Shane Victorino, Ryan Vogelsong, David Wright, Ben Zobrist
Canada – John Axford, Jesse Crain, Russell Martin, Justin Morneau, Jameson Taillon, Joey Votto
Dominican Republic – Erick Aybar, Robinson Cano, Santiago Casilla, Nelson Cruz, Alejandro De Aza, Octavio Dotel, Edwin Encarnacion, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Fernando Rodney, Wandy Rodriguez, Carlos Santana, Pedro Strop, Miguel Tejada, Jose Valverde, Edinson Volquez
Puerto Rico – Mike Aviles, Carlos Beltran, Nelson Figueroa, Jose Molina, Yadier Molina, Angel Pagan, Alex Rios, J.C. Romero, Andres Torres
Mexico – Alfredo Aceves, Jorge Cantu, Marco Estrada, Yovani Gallardo, Adrian Gonzalez, Rodrigo Lopez, Oliver Perez, Sergio Romo
Venezuela – Henderson Alvarez, Elvis Andrus, Ronald Belisario, Asdrubal Cabrera, Miguel Cabrera, Jhoulys Chacin, Carlos Gonzalez, Ramon Hernandez, Omar Infante, Miguel Montero, Gerardo Parra, Salvador Perez, Martin Prado, Juan Rincon, Francisco Rodriguez, Pablo Sandoval, Marco Scutaro, Calos Zambrano
Japan – Shinnosuke Abe, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Siichi Uchikawa
South Korea – Hyun-Soo Kim, Tae-Kyun Kim
Chinese Taipei – Che-Hsuan Lin, Chien-Ming Wang
Netherlands – Roger Bernadina, Xander Bogaerts, Andruw Jones, Andrelton Simmons
Italy – Chris Denorfia, Jason Grilli, Alex Liddi, Nick Punto, Anthony Rizzo
Australia – Justin Huber, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Chris Snelling
The first games begin on March 2nd, 2013. The MLB Network is your place to watch World Baseball Classic action.