ROSTERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2023 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Rosters Feature Record Totals of 67 MLB All-Stars, 186 Players on 40-Man MLB Club Rosters and 331 Players Under Contract with MLB Organizations;
Eight MLB MVPs – Angel Teammates Trout, Ohtani; Dodgers Betts, Freeman, Kershaw; Venezuela Teammates Altuve, Cabrera; and 2022 NL MVP Goldschmidt – to Participate, Along with Reigning MVPs of NPB (Murakami, Yamamoto) and KBO (Lee);
2022 Award Winners Sandy Alcantara and Julio Rodríguez on the DR’s Roster;
Miguel Cabrera, Oliver Pérez On Track for Their Fifth Career WBC;
Tickets for All Pools Available at WorldBaseballClassic.com
World Baseball Classic, Inc. today announced the final rosters submitted before the February 7th deadline by the 20 baseball federations participating in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The rosters were officially unveiled earlier this evening on MLB Network. Each roster includes up to 30 active players, including at least 14 pitchers and two catchers. In addition, federations may identify a designated pool of up to eight additional pitchers who are eligible to participate in one or more consecutive rounds.
Rosters for the fifth edition of the World Baseball Classic are comprised by many elite players from the ranks of Major League Baseball (MLB), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and other distinguished leagues from Asia, Latin America, Europe and Australia.
Roster Highlights
- Eight MLB Most Valuable Players are scheduled to participate:
o Three-time American League MVP Mike Trout, Team USA
o Two-time AL MVP Miguel Cabrera, Team Venezuela
o Jose Altuve, Team Venezuela
o Mookie Betts, Team USA
o Freddie Freeman, Team Canada
o Paul Goldschmidt, Team USA
o Clayton Kershaw, Team USA
o Shohei Ohtani, Team Japan
In addition, 16 of the top 18 finishers for 2022 NL MVP and six of the top 10 finishers for 2022 AL MVP are scheduled to participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
- Two Cy Young Award winners are scheduled to participate:
o Sandy Alcantara, Team Dominican Republic
o Clayton Kershaw, Team USA
- Seven MLB Rookies of the Year are scheduled to participate:
- Ronald Acuña Jr., Team Venezuela
- Pete Alonso, Team USA
- Randy Arozarena, Team Mexico
- Shohei Ohtani, Team Japan
- Julio Rodríguez, Team Dominican Republic
- Mike Trout, Team USA
- Devin Williams, Team USA
- 2023 World Baseball Classic rosters include 67 Major League All-Stars, including 35 players who were 2022 All-Stars.
- 2022 All-Stars include Ronald Acuña Jr. (Venezuela), Sandy Alcantara (Dominican Republic), Pete Alonso (USA), Jose Altuve (Venezuela), Tim Anderson (USA), Nolan Arenado (USA), Luis Arraez (Venezuela), David Bednar (USA), Mookie Betts (USA), Xander Bogaerts (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Miguel Cabrera (Venezuela), Nestor Cortes (USA), Rafael Devers (Dominican Republic), Edwin Díaz (Puerto Rico), Freddie Freeman (Canada), Andrés Giménez (Venezuela), Paul Goldschmidt (USA), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Dominican Republic), Clayton Kershaw (USA), Alejandro Kirk (Mexico), Jorge López (Puerto Rico), Manny Machado (Dominican Republic), Jeff McNeil (USA), Miles Mikolas (USA), Shohei Ohtani (Japan), Joc Pederson (Israel), Martín Pérez (Venezuela), Julio Rodríguez (Dominican Republic), Kyle Schwarber (USA), Gregory Soto (Dominican Republic), Juan Soto (Dominican Republic), Mike Trout (USA), Kyle Tucker (USA), Trea Turner (USA) and Devin Williams (USA).
- Other previous All-Stars are Javier Báez (Puerto Rico), José Berríos (Puerto Rico) 2013 World Baseball Classic Most Valuable Player Robinson Canó (Dominican Republic), Yoenis Céspedes (Cuba), Nelson Cruz (Dominican Republic), Johnny Cueto (Dominican Republic), Yu Darvish (Japan), Eduardo Escobar (Venezuela), Matt Harvey (Italy), Teoscar Hernández (Dominican Republic), Kenley Jansen (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Jair Jurrjens (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Francisco Lindor (Puerto Rico), Lance Lynn (USA), Germán Márquez (Venezuela), Ketel Marte (Dominican Republic), Cedric Mullins (USA), Omar Narváez (Venezuela), Salvador Perez (Venezuela), Ryan Pressly (USA), José Quintana (Colombia), J.T. Realmuto (USA), Gary Sánchez (Dominican Republic), Héctor Santiago (Puerto Rico), Jonathan Schoop (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Jean Segura (Dominican Republic), 2017 World Baseball Classic Most Valuable Player Marcus Stroman (Puerto Rico in 2023 after winning with Team USA in 2017), Eugenio Suárez (Venezuela), Julio Teheran (Colombia), Gleyber Torres (Venezuela), Adam Wainwright (USA) and Taijuan Walker (Mexico).
- A sampling of MVPs from professional baseball leagues includes the reigning NPB recipients, infielder Munetaka Murakami and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Team Japan; four-time recipient Alfredo Despaigne of Team Cuba; outfielder Jung-Hoo Lee of Team Korea; and infielder Darryl George of Team Australia.
- Some Major Leaguers of note include St. Louis Cardinals teammates Lars Nootbaar of Team Japan and Tommy Edman of Team Korea; Chicago White Sox teammates Yoán Moncada and Luis Robert of Team Cuba; Randy Arozarena of the Tampa Bay Rays, Austin Barnes of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Alek Thomas of the Arizona Diamondbacks with Team Mexico; and Trayce Thompson of the Los Angeles Dodgers with Team Great Britain.
- Miguel Cabrera (Team Venezuela) and Oliver Pérez (Team Mexico), both of whom are on 2023 rosters, have participated in each of the four previous World Baseball Classics.
- Team Puerto Rico has brothers Edwin (New York Mets) and Alexis Díaz (Cincinnati Reds) and Minnesota Twins teammates Jorge López, Jose Miranda, Emilio Pagán, Christian Vázquez and others.
- Team Italy has Kansas City Royals teammates Vinnie Pasquantino and Nicky Lopez as well as Milwaukee Brewers’ 2021 first round draft choice Sal Frelick.
- Both of MLB’s 2022 batting champions, Luis Arraez (Miami Marlins) of Team Venezuela and Jeff McNeil (New York Mets) of Team USA, are scheduled to participate.
20 Competing Countries and Territories for First Time in Tournament History
In 2023, the field of teams will expand to 20 for the first time in the tournament’s history. The 16 teams that participated in the 2017 Classic have been invited to play in 2023, and will be joined by the four teams that advanced via the 2022 Qualifiers, which were held last fall in Regensburg, Germany and in Panama City, Panama. The 2023 WBC will feature five-team pools in the first round for round-robin play. The top two teams in each of the four first round pools will advance to the quarterfinals, while the top two teams from each quarterfinal pool will advance to the Championship Round.
Pool Play in Taichung, Tokyo, Phoenix and Miami
Taichung will host Pool A contests from March 8th-13th between teams from Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Italy, The Kingdom of the Netherlands and Panama. It marks the second time that Taiwan will host WBC contests (Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium also hosted in 2013).
The Tokyo Dome, which has hosted pools in each of the previous four World Baseball Classics (2006, 2009, 2013 and 2017), will again be home to first round games (Pool B) and quarterfinal games in 2023. Pool B will be played from March 9th-13th, featuring Australia, China, the Czech Republic, Japan and Korea. The quarterfinals on March 15th-16th will feature the top two teams from Pool B along with the two teams advancing from Pool A in Taiwan.
Chase Field returns as a World Baseball Classic host in 2023 after serving as a first-round venue in 2006 and 2013. The games for Pool C, which will be played from March 11th-15th, will include Canada, Colombia, Great Britain, Mexico and the defending World Baseball Classic Champion United States.
loanDepot park in Miami, which hosted World Baseball Classic rounds in 2013 and 2017, will become the first venue in tournament history to host games in all three rounds of a World Baseball Classic in the same year. Pool D of the first round, which features the Dominican Republic, Israel, Nicaragua, 2017 Finalist Puerto Rico and Venezuela, will run from March 11th-15th. The North American quarterfinals, including the teams advancing from Pool C and D, will take place on March 17th-March 18th, while the Semi-Finals and Finals will be played from March 19st-21st.
The World Baseball Classic is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) as the sport’s official National Team World Championship.
###
Contact: John Blundell, Michael Teevan or Donald Muller, MLB Communications, (212) 931-7878, @MLB_PR; Chris Dahl or Silvia Alvarez, MLBPA Communications, (646) 285-1819, @MLBPA_News.
About World Baseball Classic, Inc.
World Baseball Classic, Inc. (WBCI) is a company created at the direction of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) to operate the World Baseball Classic tournament. The tournament, which is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), is supported by MLB, the MLBPA, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), their respective players associations and other leagues and players from around the world.
About the World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic is the premier international baseball tournament, sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), as the sport’s official National Team World Championship, and features the best players in the world competing for their home countries and territories. More than 3.4 million fans from all over the world have attended the tournament games, held in March 2006, March 2009, March 2013 and March 2017. Team USA is the reigning World Baseball Classic Champion after beating runner-up Puerto Rico during its 2017 championship run, joining previous tournament champions Team Japan (2006 and 2009) and Team Dominican Republic (2013). The 2023 World Baseball Classic will again feature the world’s greatest baseball-playing countries and territories.
About the World Baseball Softball Confederation
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the global governing body for the sports of baseball and softball resulting from the merger of the Headquartered in Pully, Switzerland – adjacent to Lausanne, the Olympic Capital – the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for baseball and softball. The WBSC now boasts 185 Member Federations and 8 Provisional Members as well as 14 Associate Members. in 137 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania, which represent a united baseball/softball sports movement that encompasses over 65 million athletes and attracts approximately 150 million fans to stadiums worldwide annually. The WBSC governs all international competitions involving official National Teams. The WBSC oversees the Premier12, the World Baseball Classic and Baseball World Cups (U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women’s), Softball World Cups, (U-12 Mixed, U-15 Women’s, U-18 Women’s, U-18 Men’s, U-23 Men’s, Women’s and Men’s), and official disciplines Baseball5 (Senior and Youth World Cups) and E-Sports as well as Baseball, Softball and Baseball5 events at the Olympic Games. For more information, visit www.wbsc.org, which is available in six languages: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Traditional Chinese.
