Baseball’s March Madness
Starting March 5, in Tokyo, Japan, the 2009 World Baseball Classic kicks off with China taking on host Japan. 16 countries will compete over the next 19 days to determine the second champion of the WBC. But what incentive does the casual Brewer fan have to watch the upcoming Classic? Does Milwaukee have any players participating? The answer to that question is yes, and a big yes at that.
Brewers All-Star Ryan Braun has been listed on Team USA’s preliminary roster, and should see significant playing time in the Classic. With Braun
The answer to both of those questions is again, yes. After doing a bit of research, the Brewers as an organization have nine players currently on provisional rosters. Each country was able to name up to 45 players to be placed on their provisional roster, which will be trimmed to 28 by February 24.
Here is a list of players currently in the Brewers organization that are listed on a country’s provisional roster.
United States of America
- Ryan Braun
Australia
- David Welch
Canada
- Brett Lawrie
- Alex Periard
- R.J. Swindle
Italy
- Mark DiFelice
- Vinny Rottino
Mexico
- Yovani Gallardo
Venezuela
- Jorge Julio
Time will tell to see how many of these nine players will make their country’s final roster, but at the moment, there are numerous possibilities for Brewers to be playing against each other. In Pool C, Canada, Italy, USA, and Venezuela all feature a player in the organization on the roster, while Pool B sports Mexico and Australia, the remaining two countries featuring Brewers players.
With Milwaukee being a small market, I got to thinking how their organization ranked among the rest of Major League Baseball in terms of number of players on provisional rosters. As it turns out, the Brewers nine players place them tied for 19th, slightly below the midway point. That may be due to being a small market, however, Minnesota actually has the most players with 19, and they’re considered a market similar to Milwaukee.
Against teams in the NL Central, the Brewers and Cardinals each have nine, the Astros 10, Pittsburgh 12, and both the Cubs and Reds 17.
So mark your calenders, March 7 is Team USA’s first pitch, and get ready to watch some baseball that actually means something, as opposed to those wonderful Spring Training games, heading into the 2009 season.
mlblogsbarrelman
That’s pretty cool. Too bad a few are backing out, IMHO they shouldn’t take any chances.