The MLB affiliated players for the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Brooklyn, New York (September 22-25) have been revealed through MLB.com. Since the MLB season is still ongoing at the end of September obviously no active Major Leaguers will be on the rosters.
Great Britain will be managed by Liam Carroll, who has Trevor Hoffman, Mike Nickeas and Bradley Marcelino on the coaching staff. 12 of the 28 players on the roster will be from Major League organizations. Pitchers Chris Reed, Michael Roth and Jacob Esch already have experience with Team GB. Also on the roster will be Blake Taylor, Jasrado Chisholm, Jordan Serena, Kyle Simmons, Todd Isaacs, Reshard Munroe, Byron Murray, Champ Stuart and Chris Berset.
Jerry Weinstein is managing Team Israel since Brad Ausmus, who led the coaching staff in 2012, is busy with the Detroit Tigers. 20 of the 28 players on Israel’s team will be affiliated with MLB clubs. Dean Kremer and Nate Freiman already have had success with Israel in International Baseball. Also on the team are Alex Katz, Jared Lakind, R.C. Orlan, Ryan Sherriff, Corey Baker, Bradley Goldberg, Tyler Herron, Troy Neiman, Joey Wagman, Josh Zeid, Scott Burcham, Cody Decker, Ty Kelly, Zach Borenstein, Michael Meyers, Rhett Wiseman, Nick Rickles and MLB experienced Ryan Lavarnway.
Brazil, which qualified through a WBC Qualifier in 2012, again is managed by Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, who has brought Steve Finley and LaTroy Hawkins onto the coaching staff. All three have been frequent guests in Europe for MLB’s training camps. They have nine affiliated players on the roster including Edilson Batista, Andre Rienzo, Rodrigo Takahashi, Thyago Vieira, Christian Lopes, Tim Lopes, Leonardo Reginatto, Gabriel Maciel and Luis Paz.
Pakistan is the fourth team in the tournament and is as debutant the heavy underdog. While they won’t be unexperienced in international play due to their participations in various Asian championships, they won’t have any affiliated players on the roster.