DURHAM, North Carolina — USA Baseball, the governing body in the U.S., announced the coaching staff that will guide the U.S. U-12 National Team at the IV WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 in Tainan, Taiwan.
Some of the first orders of business for National Team coaching staffs is to identify the nation’s top players and construct the best team in the country and potentially the world.
The U.S., currently No. 2 in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings, will enter the battle For The Title of World Champion as the two-time defending world champions, after having captured titles in 2013 and 2015. The U.S. has also won the last three U-18 world championships.
An assistant coach with the U.S. U-12 squad that won gold in 2015, David Sharp was named as manager, while Todd Finewill will serve as pitching coach. Assistant coaches Butch Chaffin and RJ Farrell complete the staff. All members of the newly formed coaching staff have previous experience working with the USA Baseball National Team programme.
Road to #U12WorldCup 2017
USA, along with Brazil, Mexico and Nicaragua earned the right to represent the Americas at the U-12 Baseball World Cup 2017 by virtue of a top-four finish at the Americas Qualifier in 2016. Other qualified nations include the Czech Republic and Germany out of Europe; Chinese Taipei, Japan and Korea advances out of Asia; and Australia won the Oceania U-12 title.
With 10 of the 12 nations qualified, two representatives — Africa (1) and a Wild Card (1) — are still to be determined.
