The Czech Baseball Association (CBA) was the last of four European countries to release its World Baseball Classic Qualifier roster on Wednesday after France, Spain and Germany announced their teams the day before. The Czech Republic faces Germany, Mexico and Nicaragua at Estadio B-Air in Mexicali, Mexico from March 17 to 20.
28 players were nominated by the coaching staff of Mike Griffin. As in 2012 the majority of players is playing in the Czech Republic or are players affiliated with MLB organizations. Mike Cervenak and Alex Sogard return for a second stint with the Czech team after 2012. Additionally they hope John Straka can be on the team, but MLB is still checking his eligibility. If he doesn’t make the cut, Lukas Ercoli will take his spot.
Griffin’s coaching staff features 2004 World Series winner Trot Nixon as bench coach. The team already traveled to Arizona for a short training camp. They will play five exhibition games against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team from Japan, France, the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants.
Czech Roster for Mexicali:
| 1 | Blažek | Jan |
| 2 | Bokaj | Boris |
| 3 | Čech | Petr |
| 4 | Cervenak | Michael |
| 5 | Červenka | Martin |
| 6 | Červenka | Marek |
| 7 | Chroust | Přemek |
| 8 | Duffek | Tomas |
| 9 | Ercoli/Straka | Lukáš/John |
| 10 | Hajtmar | Jakub |
| 11 | Hajtmar | Adam |
| 12 | Hejma | Matěj |
| 13 | Juněc | Tomáš |
| 14 | Malík | Jakub |
| 15 | Minařík | Marek |
| 16 | Minařík | Petr |
| 17 | Mráz | Daniel |
| 18 | Novák | Jan |
| 19 | Ondráček | Michal |
| 20 | Polanský | Tomáš |
| 21 | Schneider | Martin |
| 22 | Síla | Petr |
| 23 | Sládek | Jakub |
| 24 | Sobotka | Michal |
| 25 | Sogard | Alex |
| 26 | Tomek | Jan |
| 27 | Voják | Jakub |
| 28 | Zýma | Petr |