USA Baseball announces 20-man roster for U-18 World Cup

USA Baseball announced the 20-man roster for the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup, that will take off on Friday 30 September in Gijang, South Korea. The roster features ten players who have participated in the National Team Development Programme (NTDP).

Five members of the 2019 U-18 USA National Team have represented the Country previously. Outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has been named to his fourth USA National Team. Together with right-handed pitcher Max Rajcic and catcher Drew Romo he was a member of the 2018 USA National Team that won the Pan Am Championship.

The complete ROSTER on USA Baseball website

Jack Leggett, who reached the College World Series 6 times with the Clemson University Tigers and is an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Famer, will return as a manager after leading the USA to a gold medal in the Pan Am Games.

“We are really excited about the twenty players that we have just chosen for this year’s U-18 National Team,” said Jack Leggett. “It’s been a great trial period with a great group of kids that have worked extremely hard. The decisions were really tough, but we feel like the twenty that we have now, show us a lot of versatility, a lot of talent and a lot of really good attitudes, so we are really looking forward to competing for a World Championship.”

Legget’s coaching staff will include pitching coach Scott Bankhead and assistant coaches Gerald Laird and Gregg Ritchie.

The 2019 U-18 USA Baseball National Team will train in Fullerton, California, until Wednesday, 21 August and will head next to Taichung, Taiwan, for three warm-up games (scheduled 24-27 August) against Chinese Taipei.

The USA will then open play in the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup against South Africa on Friday, August 30, at 7 pm local time (6 am US Eastern Time) in Gijang.

The USA National Team is the four-time defending World Champion in the U-18 age category.

U-18 Baseball World Cup OFFICIAL SITE