2017 World Baseball Classic –Team divisions & Squads News
Operated by World Baseball Classic Inc. under the directions of Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association, the 2017 World Baseball Classic will be the fourth of its kind. A total of sixteen teams will be the participants in this years’ event. Both Colombia and Israel will be making their first appearance in the 2017 World Baseball Classic while Dominican Republic will be defending the title won back in 2013. Before 2013, both 2006 and 2009 event were won by Japan. 2017 World Baseball Classic however remains open as all teams are well determined to clinch the title.
Starting from March 6th, 2017 World Baseball Classic will be played in seven different cities. The first round of the games will be organized at Seoul, Tokyo, Miami and Jalisco. While Tokyo and San Diego hold the responsibility of arranging the second round. The championship round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic will be played at Los Angeles. Out of sixteen, twelve teams are selected on the basis of their performance in the first round of 2013 World Baseball Classic. While the rest four teams have made it to the main event by winning the qualification tournaments held earlier this year.
2017 World Baseball Classic Team Rosters
With still a two months to go in the starting of the event, the team line ups have not been completed yet. Furthermore the sides that have announced their squads for the event are mere predicted and will take some time to be finalized. So far the squads from the teams announced for 2017 World Baseball Classic are as under;
| Japan | South Korea | Israel | United States | Colombia | Dominican Republic | Mexico |
| Ryo Akiyoshi
Hirotoshi Masui Naoki Miyanishi Takahiro Norimoto Shohei Otani Tomoyuki Sugano Shota Ohno Motohiro Shima Ryosuke Kikuchi Nobuhiro Matsuda Sho Nakata Hayato Sakamoto Tetsuto Yamada Shogo Akiyama Seiya Suzuki Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh Seiichi Uchikawa
|
Cha Woo-chan
Chang Si-hwan Jang Won-jun Kim Kwang-hyun Lee Hyun-seung Lee Yong-chan Lim Chang-yong Lim Jung-woo Park Hee-soo Rhee Dae-eun Won Jong-hyun Woo Kyu-min Yang Hyeon-jong Kim Tae-goon Yang Eui-ji Heo Kyung-min Jung Keun-woo Kim Ha-sung Kim Jae-ho Kim Tae-kyun Lee Dae-ho Park Suk-min Seo Geon-chang Choi Hyung-woo Kym Hyun-soo Lee Yong-kyu Min Byung-heon Choo Shin-soo |
Corey Baker
Jeremy Bleich Jon Moscot Josh Zeid Ryan Lavarnway Ike Davis Ty Kelly Danny Valencia Cody Decker Sam Fuld |
Chris Archer
Mychal Givens Luke Gregerson Andrew Miller Marcus Stroman Jonathan Lucroy Buster Posey Nolan Arenado Matt Carpenter Brandon Crawford Paul Goldschmidt Eric Hosmer Ian Kinsler Daniel Murphy Adam Jones Andrew McCutchen Christian Yelich |
William Cuevas
Greg Nappo José Quintana Julio Teherán Dilson Herrera Reynaldo Rodríguez Adrián Sánchez |
Dellin Betances
Álex Colomé Alex Reyes Adrián Beltré Robinson Canó Manny Machado José Reyes Nelson Cruz Starling Marte Gregory Polanco |
Jaime García
Miguel González Roberto Osuna Sergio Romo Joakim Soria Fernando Salas Óliver Pérez Carlos Torres Adrián González Japhet Amador Danny Espinosa Brandon Laird Khris Davis
|
2017 World Baseball Classic Pool Composition
The 16 teams participating in 2017 world baseball classics have been classified into four pools, each comprising of four teams. Pool composition for the participant teams goes as under.
| Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D |
| South Korea
Chinese Taipei Netherlands Israel |
Japan
Australia China Cuba |
United States
Canada Colombia Dominican Republic |
Mexico
Italy Puerto Rico Venezuela
|
The event will officially kick off from March 6th 2017 with Israel and Korea going against each other in Pool A at Seoul. All matches will be broadcasted live through MLB Network in the whole of United States. For the ticketing and complete schedule of the matches go here.
