USA Baseball named former Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Michael Cuddyer as its U-18 National Team manager. Cuddyer will replace Denny Hocking, who led the US to win the XXX WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup on home soil in Florida in September last year.
Cuddyer, who will celebrate his 44th birthday on 27 March, played 1,536 MLB games for the Minnesota Twins (2001-2011), Colorado Rockies (2012-2014) and New York Mets (2015). He posted a .277 batting average with 197 home runs and 794 RBIs.
He played for the U-18 USA National Team in 1996 and 1997 and was on the coaching staff in 2001. Cuddyer becomes the second person after Jason Hisey, who played in 1987 and managed in 2006, to become skipper of the U-18 USA after representing it as a player.
"Any time you have an opportunity to don the stars and stripes is extremely special," said Cuddyer. "In 1996, the U-18 National Team was the first time I was able to come to the realization that I could play with the best players in the world. I am beyond grateful to be able to share in the journey of this year's team members on our quest to defend the gold medal."
"We are thrilled to welcome Michael Cuddyer back to be our manager in 2023," said U-18 National Team Programme Director Brett Curll. "As someone who has played and coached for the US, Michael realizes the importance of representing our country in international play. His experience as a standout player in amateur baseball will be extremely relatable for our players at this point in their careers, and his successful major-league career speaks for itself. We are looking forward to beginning the process of defending our world championship with Michael leading the charge."
The US will defend their U-18 World Title in the XXXI WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup, to be staged later in 2023. Hosting rights and exact dates are yet to be announced.
USA Baseball also announced that the remainder of the U-18 National Team coaching staff, along with the 2023 schedule, will be announced at a later date.
