Israel’s manager at their first participation at the World Baseball Classic Qualifier last year is going to manage the Detroit Tigers next season. 44-year-old Brad Ausmus is likely succeeding Jim Leyland at the helm of this year’s ALCS participant. The former Major League catcher has no coaching or managing experience at the big league level. He served as Special Assistant to Baseball Operations between 2010 and 2013 with the San Diego Padres organization. Managing Israel he had to settle for a second-place finish at the WBC Qualifier in Jupiter, Florida behind Spain last September. During his playing career he was batting .251 with the Padres, Tigers, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was named to the All Star Team in 1999 and three times won the Gold Glove Award.