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 lefty reliever Tim Collins was named to the Team USA roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic in March. It was announced live on MLB Network at 10am ET.

This will not be Collins‘ first go-round with Team USA. He was a member of the 2010 Pan American team that lost just one game, to the Dominican Republic in their final game. In five games (seven innings), he allowed two runs on five hits and three walks. He struck out six. The runs were given up in the loss to the DR.

Collins is one of four lefties on the team, with Jeremy Affeldt (SF), Derek Holland (Texas), and Glen Perkins (Minnesota). The rest of the pitching staff is as follows: Heath Bell (Arizona), Mitchell Boggs (St. Louis), Steve Cishek (Miami), RA Dickey (Toronto), Luke Gregerson (SD), Craig Kimbrel and Kris Medlen (Atlanta), Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez (Cleveland), Andy Pettitte (NY Yankees), and Ryan Vogelsong (SF). Supposedly, the US has a starting spot open and are leaving it for Justin Verlander.

There are not a ton of big names on the pitching staff (because they all turned it down), but there are some passionate back end of the bullpen guys that will be fun to watch (Collins included).

The catching staff includes Joe Mauer (Minnesota), Jonathan Lucroy (Milwaukee), and JP Arencibia (Toronto). Arencibia has been working with knuckleballer Dickey in Nashville this offseason.

The infield is a veteran group, with Mark Teixeira (NY Yankees), Brandon Phillips (Cincinnati), Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia), and David Wright (NY Mets) expected to start. The expected starting outfield has a little more youth with Ryan Braun (Milwaukee), Adam Jones (Baltimore), and Giancarlo Stanton (Miami).

The bench will include super-utility guys Willie Bloomquist (Arizona) and Ben Zobrist (TB). Shane Victorino (Boston) was a member of the 2009 team and is pumped to be back.

The entire team will gather at Salt River Fields on March 1st. Their first game will be against Mexico on March 8th. They will play Italy the following night, and then Canada on Sunday afternoon (March 10th).

The rest of the countries’ rosters will be announced at 4pm ET today, as MLB Network will have an hour long show focused on the WBC. For more on the WBC, click HERE.