Six-time all-star Freddie Freeman will lead Canada on the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
Freeman, who gained the 2020 National League MVP award and the 2021 World Series with Atlanta, was certainly one of 30 gamers named to Canada’s roster Thursday by supervisor Ernie Whitt.
Freeman, born in Fountain Valley, Calif., to Canadian mother and father, additionally represented Canada on the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
The first baseman hit .325 with 21 residence runs and 100 runs batted in with the Los Angeles Dodgers final season.
Canada’s roster options 10 gamers who appeared in Major League Baseball final season, together with two-time Gold Glove outfielder Tyler O’Neill of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Nick Pivetta of the Boston Red Sox and Cal Quantrill of the Cleveland Guardians will lead the pitching employees, whereas Matt Brash (Seattle), Otto Lopez (Toronto), Bo Naylor (Cleveland), Abraham Toro (Milwaukee), Jared Young (Chicago Cubs) and Rob Zastryzny (Pittsburgh) had been additionally named to the workforce.
Former large leaguers representing Canada embrace Andrew Albers, Phillippe Aumont, John Axford, Adam Loewen, Scott Mathieson and Jacob Robson.
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Canada’s roster options eight gamers who beforehand participated within the World Baseball Classic together with Albers (2013, 2017), Aumont (2009, 2013), Axford (2013), Freeman (2017), Loewen (2006, 2013), Mathieson (2006, 2013, 2017), O’Neill (2017) and Pivetta (2017).
“The honour of representing Canada and managing these gamers is one thing meaning a fantastic deal to me,” Whitt stated in a launch. “There’s nothing higher than worldwide baseball and the depth of the World Baseball Classic.
“I do know our workforce will likely be able to compete as soon as the match begins subsequent month.”
Joining Whitt on the teaching employees are Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Walker, former MLB all-stars Russell Martin and Paul Quantrill, former large leaguer Denis Boucher, former Toronto Blue Jays first-base coach Tim Leiper and Baseball Canada’s director of nationwide groups Greg Hamilton.
Canada will compete in Phoenix as a part of Pool C within the first spherical together with Colombia, Great Britain, Mexico and the United States. Canada opens in opposition to Great Britain on March 12.
Trout, Betts, Ohtani amongst 8 MVPs in match
The United States’ Mike Trout and Mookie Betts, Japan’s Shohei Ohtani and Venezuela’s Miguel Cabrera and Jose Altuve are amongst eight Major League Baseball MVPs on rosters for the match.
Americans Paul Goldschmidt and Clayton Kershaw are also on the rosters introduced Thursday for the 20-nation match, to be performed from March 8-21.
Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara of the Dominican Republic can also be headed to the match, to be performed in Tokyo; Taichung, Taiwan; Phoenix; and Miami.
The 600 gamers embrace 67 main league all-stars, 35 of them from final season. There are seven Rookies of the Year: Trout, Pete Alonso and Devin Williams of the United States; Ohtani; Venezuela’s Ronald Acuna Jr.; the Dominican Republic’s Julio Rodriguez; and Mexico’s Randy Arozarena.
Judge skipping match
Players skipping the match embrace main league residence run champion Aaron Judge, New York Yankees teammate Luis Severino of the Dominican Republic and Minnesota shortstop Carlos Correa of Puerto Rico.
Japan’s roster consists of first baseman Munetaka Murakami, winner of the Central League’s final two MVPs; right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, winner of the Pacific League’s final two MVPs; together with San Diego pitcher Yu Darvish and Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
Former New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is on Cuba’s roster, which incorporates energetic main leaguers for the primary time. Among these are Chicago White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada and outfielder Luis Robert, who’re joined by outfielder Alfredo Despaigne, a former star within the Japanese main leagues.
South Korea’s roster consists of outfielder Lee Jung-hoo, the Korean League’s 2022 MVP and a son of 1994 MVP Lee Jong-beom, together with Cardinals infielder Tommy Edman.
Israel’s roster consists of Joc Pederson, Dean Kremer and Richard Bleier together with Ty Kelly, Ryan Lavarnway, Danny Valencia and Shlomo Lipetz of final yr’s Olympic workforce.
Brothers Edwin Diaz of the New York Mets and Alexis Diaz of Cincinnati will play for Puerto Rico.
Cabrera and Mexican 41-year-old left-hander Oliver Perez every will likely be of their fifth WBC.
Each workforce should embrace a minimum of 14 pitchers and two catchers.
A pitcher is restricted to 65 pitches throughout a first-round recreation, 80 in a quarterfinal and 95 within the championship spherical, although a restrict could be exceeded to complete a plate look. A pitcher might not pitch in video games on three consecutive days. There should be someday off after throwing 30 or extra pitches and two days off after throwing 50 or extra pitches.
Netherlands performs Cuba within the match opener.
Pools, format
First-round teams are:
A: Taichung, March 8-13 — Cuba, Italy, Netherlands, Taiwan, Panama
B: Tokyo, March 9-13 — Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Czech Republic
C: Phoenix, March 11-15 — Canada, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Great Britain
D: Miami, March 11-15 — Dominican Republic, Israel, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Nicaragua
The high two groups in every group advance to quarterfinals, at Tokyo on March 15-16 and at Miami on March 17-18. The semifinals on March 19 and the ultimate will likely be at Marlins Park.
This would be the fifth version of the WBC following victories by Japan in 2006 and ’09, the Dominican Republic in 2013 and the U.S. in 2017. A scheduled 2021 match was referred to as off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
