The provisional rosters for the World Baseball Classic were released this afternoon and there are quite a few current and former KC Royals on those rosters.

I wrote earlier about lefty reliever Tim Collins being a member of Team USA.

It was rumored that lefty starter Bruce Chen might join Team China. Well, it looks as though the crafty veteran will be anchoring the Chinese staff in the WBC. I am surprised that he is going to be leaving the Royals early in spring training when he is going to be in a tight battle for the final rotation spot. Their pool, Pool A, begins play on March 2nd, but China starts play on the third against host Japan.

Pitchers are only allowed to throw 65 pitches in the first round of pool play, so if Chen can be economical, he could realistically go five or six innings (unless he gets ripped).

Joining Chen in Pool A is Royals minor leaguer Paulo Orlando. The outfielder was a member of the surprise Brazilian team that upset Panama in the WBC Qualifier. He will be with Brazil in their first WBC when they begin play on March 2nd against host Japan. As of right now, Brazil’s lone big leaguer, catcher Yan Gomes, who played in the qualifier, is not on the roster (but they only have one catcher listed on their roster).

The Netherlands shocked the world in 2009 and look to do the same in 2013 in Pool B with some players with a little more name recognition (like Jair Jurrjens, Andruw Jones, Andrelton Simmons, and Jurickson Profar). Pitcher JC Sulbaran, who the Royals received from Cincinnati for Jonathan Broxton, is a member of the Netherlands pitching staff.

I am most looking forward to seeing some of the veteran Netherlands players, like Robbie Cordemans and Yurendell de Caster, along with some of the prospect guys like Jonathan Schoop, Xander Bogaerts, and Spencer Kieboom.

The Netherlands begin pool play on March 2nd against Korea in Taiwan.

Former Royal Justin Huber is yet again a member of the Australian team that is looking to use some of that explosive offensive (over .300 average in 2009) to make it out of the pool.

Huber will be joined with other veterans Luke Hughes, Peter Moylan, and Brad Harman. They also have some young prospects like Stefan Welch, James Beresford, and Clayton Tanner.

» Continue reading “WBC Rosters Full of Royals”

KC Royals pitcher Nate Adcock was just starting out in 2007 when he played in Wisconsin. It was his first full season of professional baseball, as he was drafted in the 5th round of the 2006 draft by the Seattle Mariners. One of his teammates then was outfielder Greg Halman, a native of the Netherlands.

Adcock shared his memories of Halman, who was stabbed to death on Monday at the young age of 24. Halman was still a member of the Mariners organization.

“He was a very hard-nosed baseball player, had all the talent in the world,” Adcock said. “He could do a lot of things on the ballfield. He could run, he could throw, he could hit. It’s just sad to see such a good ballplayer have such a tragic death. All of us baseball players are like a family, and to have anyone pass away in any circumstance is really sad to hear.”

I remember watching him play during the World Baseball Classic when the Netherlands shocked the Dominican Republic. You can share your memories of Halman on the special blog set up by the Mariners.

Here is video from his post-game interview following his first big league homerun this season:

If you have watched the Netherlands play baseball over the last few years, I am not sure if you were completely shocked by the outcome of last night’s gold medal game of baseball’s World Cup. I wasn’t shocked, but definitely excited. However, many people were shocked because the mighty Cubans could not defeat the Netherlands the second time around (they also lost in their first matchup earlier in the week).

Leon Boyd kissing the trophy via Wilma Boyd on Facebook

In a rematch between the upstart Europeans (the Netherlands) and the veteran expected Goliath (Cuba), the game got started just a wee bit late. Rain all day at Rod Carew Stadium in Panama pushed the gold medal game back three hours.

Cuba took the early 1-0 lead in the 4th inning against veteran Dutch starter Robbie Cordemans. However in the bottom of the inning, the Netherlands came right back to take the 2-1 lead. Bryan Engelhardt tied the game with an RBI single, scoring veteran Sydney De Jong. With the infield in, Baltimore Orioles farmhand Jonathan Schoop delivered an RBI single to give them the lead.

Cordemans and relievers Juan Carlos Sulbaran and David Bergman shut out Cuba the rest of the way. Cordemans allowed the one run on two hits while striking out six over 7.1 innings. Sulbaran followed and allowed two hits in one inning. Bergman finished off the Cubans, by getting two outs in the 9th inning.

It was an interesting 9th inning as Sulbaran gave up a hit with one out. Bergman came in and quickly recorded the second out, but then allowed a single, which pushed the tying run to second base. Bergman then got Hector Olivera to line out to Schoop on the first pitch to end the game and set off the celebration.

Curt Smith of the Netherlands was named the MVP of the World Cup.

It was the first medal for the Netherlands and the first gold medal win for a European team since the 1938 Great Britain team.

» Continue reading “Netherlands Shocks the World to Take Gold”

It came down to Monday’s off-day, but Team USA advanced to the second round of baseball’s World Cup. It took a 5-0 win over Panama for the Americans to advance. Team USA had lost to Canada on Sunday for the first time since the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Former KC Royal minor leaguer Damaso Espino went 0-for-2 in Panama’s loss. Overall in the past week, Espino has gone 5-for-13 with three runs scored and an RBI.

The World Cup’s second round will again feature a round robin format with games beginning on Tuesday and continuing thru Friday.  The standings of the second round will be determined based on the results between all eight advancing teams, including the first round results.

An example: Canada will start the second round with a 2-1 record, having defeated the Netherlands and the USA (their loss came to Panama). Based on the seven results for each team, the classification games and the finals will be played on Saturday October 15th.

Team USA begins action on Tuesday against Cuba, while Canada will try to stop the suddenly hot Australians. The Netherlands will face Korea, while Panama faces Venezuela.

*Here are the current standings:

Cuba 3-0
Canada 2-1
Netherlands 2-1
Australia 1-2
Korea 1-2
Panama 1-2
Venezuela 1-2
USA 1-2

Current or former Royals that are still playing in the World Cup are: Justin Huber and Paul Mildren (Australia), Espino (Panama), and Tim Smith and Jamie Romak (Canada).

Despite being outsted from the international tournament, former Royals outfielder Alexis Gomez played well for his home country of the Dominican Republic this past week. Over the DR’s final four games, Gomez went 8-for-17 with four runs scored and two RBIs. His best game was a 4-for-4 performance against Nicaragua.

In Australia’s sudden burst of offense, former Royal Justin Huber also heated up. Over the Aussie’s final four games, he was 6-for-15 with eight RBIs and four runs scored.

Canada has advanced and Tim Smith and Jamie Romak have been a part of the offense. Smith has gone 3-for-16 with five RBIs and three runs scored. He hit a two-run homerun in Canada’s 4-0 win over Chinese Taipei. Smith scored the winning run against the Netherlands on Saturday in extra innings (it was the Netherlands only loss). Romak has gone 1-for-12 with a homerun.

Italy was eliminated on Sunday after losing to Venezuela in 10 innings. Current Royals minor leaguer Andrea Pizziconi pitched in their Friday loss to Cuba (1.2 IP, 1H, 2R, 2BB, 1K, 3WP, 2HBP).

**Bruce Chen threw out the first pitch prior to his home country Panama’s game versus the Netherlands on Sunday. Unfortunately he was a bit of bad luck, as Panama lost their first game of the tournament.