Thursday night marked the announcement of the World Baseball Classic rosters for all 20 teams playing in the tournament. The WBC begins on March 8th and ends on March 21st.
Here’s a list of the Pittsburgh Pirates who are on the rosters:
USA: David Bednar
Canada: Rob Zastryzny
Dominican Republic: Roansy Contreras, Jarlin Garcia
Puerto Rico: Duane Underwood Jr.
Italy: Alessandro Ercolani, Jeffrey Passantino
Netherlands: Antwone Kelly, Josh Palacios
Chinese Taipei: Tsung-Che Cheng
Great Britain: Tahnaj Thomas, Chavez Young
Colombia: Santiago Florez
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
OT, but the Pirates signed lefty Caleb Smith. MiL deal.
Appears to be a nice pickup especially on a MiLB deal
I agree. Not sure if it is spring fever or hay fever but I am getting slightly more excited about the season.
Italy: Alessandro Ercolani
No separate team for San Marino? Boooo!