Los Angeles —World Baseball Classic, Inc. today announced the final rosters submitted before the February 6th deadline by the 16 baseball federations participating in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. The rosters were officially unveiled earlier this evening on MLB Network. Each roster includes up to 28 active players, including at least 13 pitchers and two catchers. In addition, federations may identify a designated pool of up to 10 pitchers who are eligible to participate in one or more consecutive rounds.
Rosters for the fourth installment of the World Baseball Classic are filled by many elite players from the ranks of Major League Baseball (MLB), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and other leagues from Asia, Latin America, Europe and Australia. The rosters include twenty-five (25) 2016 All-Stars, including Jose Altuve (Venezuela), Nolan Arenado (USA), Xander Bogaerts (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Francisco Lindor (Puerto Rico) and Manny Machado (Dominican Republic). The rosters also include two-time American League Most Valuable Player Miguel Cabrera (Venezuela), 2012 National League MVP Buster Posey (USA), 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen (USA), 2006 AL MVP Justin Morneau (Canada), 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez (Venezuela), 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colón (Dominican Republic) and 2003 NL Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne (Canada).
Including the names above, there are 63 Major League All-Stars who appear on the submitted rosters (alphabetically): Chris Archer (USA), Jose Bautista (Dominican Republic), Carlos Beltran (Puerto Rico), Adrian Beltre (Dominican Republic), Dellin Betances (Dominican Republic), Robinson Canó (Dominican Republic), Matt Carpenter (USA), Brett Cecil (USA), Tyler Clippard (USA), Brandon Crawford (USA), Nelson Cruz (Dominican Republic), Johnny Cueto (Dominican Republic), Ryan Dempster (Canada), Alcides Escobar (Venezuela), Marco Estrada (Mexico), Jeurys Familia (Dominican Republic), Freddie Freeman (Canada), Yovani Gallardo (Mexico), Paul Goldschmidt (USA), Adrián González (Mexico), Carlos Gonzalez (Venezuela), Sonny Gray (USA), Odubel Herrera (Venezuela), Eric Hosmer (USA), Kenley Jansen (Netherlands), Adam Jones (USA), Jair Jurrjens (Netherlands), Ian Kinsler (USA), Jonathan Lucroy (USA), Jason Marquis (Israel), Starling Marte (Dominican Republic), Carlos Martinez (Dominican Republic), Victor Martinez (Venezuela), Andrew Miller (USA), Yadier Molina (Puerto Rico), Daniel Murphy (USA), Pat Neshek (USA), Salvador Perez (Venezuela), Martin Prado (Venezuela), Jose Quintana (Colombia), Hanley Ramirez (Dominican Republic), Jose Reyes (Dominican Republic), David Robertson (USA), Fernando Rodney (Dominican Republic), Francisco Rodriguez (Venezuela), Sergio Romo (Mexico), Hector Santiago (Puerto Rico), Joakim Soria (Mexico), Giancarlo Stanton (USA), Julio Teheran (Colombia) and Edinson Volquez (Dominican Republic).
The defending World Baseball Classic Champion Dominican Republic team will bring back nine players from 2013, including Canó, Santiago Casilla, Cruz, Samuel Deduno, Ramirez, Reyes, Rodney, Carlos Santana and Volquez. Puerto Rico has 13 players returning from its 2013 Finalist squad, including Mike Aviles, Beltran, Jose Berrios, Hiram Burgos, Jose De La Torre, Molina, Angel Pagan, Orlando Roman, J.C. Romero, Eddie Rosario, Andres Santiago, Mario Santiago and Giovanni Soto.
Twenty players are slated to compete in their fourth career WBC, including Beltran, Cabrera, Frederich Cepeda (Cuba), Kun Chen (China), Robbie Cordemans (Netherlands), Yurendell de Caster (Netherlands), Gonzalez, Brad Harman (Australia), Luke Hughes (Australia), Alessandro Maestri (Italy), Diegomar Markwell (Netherlands), Molina, Morneau, Seung-Hwan Oh (Korea), Pete Orr (Canada), Oliver Perez, Reyes, Francisco Rodriguez, Roman and Romero.
Other notable players include: 2015 NPB MVP Tetsuto Yamada (Japan); 2014 NPB MVP Tomoyuki Sugano (Japan); Josh Naylor (Canada), the 12th overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft; 2014 Cuban National Series MVP Yosbany Torres (Cuba); 2013 Cuban National Series MVP Freddy Alvarez (Cuba); three-time Cuban National Series MVP Alfredo Despaigne (Cuba); and highly touted prospects Jorge Alfaro (Colombia), Dilson Herrera (Colombia) and Julio Urias (Mexico).
Pool A, which will be played at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea from Monday, March 6th–Friday, March 10th, will include the countries of Chinese Taipei, Israel, Korea and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The opening game at the venue on March 6th will feature Korea vs. newcomer and Qualifier victor Israel at 6:30 p.m. (all times local).
Pool B will feature the countries of Australia, China, Cuba and Japan at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan from Tuesday, March 7th–Saturday, March 11th. The opening game on March 7th will be played at 7:00 p.m. between two-time WBC Champion Japan (2006, 2009) and Cuba.
Marlins Park in Miami, Florida will host Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and the United States for Pool C contests from Thursday, March 9th–Monday, March 13th. Canada and the Dominican Republic will square off in the first game in Miami on March 9th at 6:00 p.m.
Estadio Charros de Jalisco in Jalisco, Mexico will host games in Pool D, featuring Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela from Thursday, March 9th–Monday, March 13th. Mexico will match-up against Italy in the opening game of the pool at 8:00 p.m. on March 9th.
The First Round will feature a round-robin format with the top two teams at each venue advancing to one of two Second Round pools. The Second Round, which will also be round-robin, will be played at the Tokyo Dome and Petco Park in San Diego, California. Pool E at the Tokyo Dome, from Sunday, March 12th–Thursday, March 16th, will feature the winners and runners-up from Pools A and B, while Pool F at Petco Park, from Tuesday, March 14th–Sunday, March 19th, will host the winners and runners-up from Pools C and D. The winners and runners-up from each of the Second Round pools will advance to the Championship Round at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California from Monday, March 20th–Wednesday, March 22nd.
Tickets for the Championship Round at Dodger Stadium, which includes two semi-final games and the final game, are available at www.worldbaseballclassic.com. Tickets for WBC games played in Miami, Tokyo, Seoul, Jalisco and San Diego are also available at www.worldbaseballclassic.com. In addition, a special three-game ticket pack is available for Pool F in San Diego, and individual team ticket packs are available for Pool C in Miami.
In the United States, tournament games will air live exclusively in English on MLB Network and on an authenticated basis via MLBNetwork.com/watch; while ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN will provide the exclusive Spanish language coverage. Internationally, leading global media rights agency, MP & Silva has teamed with WBCI to distribute the tournament across all forms of television, internet, mobile and radio – all territories excluding the U.S., Puerto Rico and Japan.
