WBC Gets Rolling, Familiar Names Set to Compete

The tournament held every four years to crown the world champions of baseball is back. In the World Baseball Classic, a combined 16 national teams play in four separate pools to earn bids in future rounds, all with hopes of vying against the most elite teams in order to earn the top title in the sport. Team Japan has won the first two titles, with the inaugural WBC being held back in 2006.

By local time standards, the worldwide tournament kicked off on Saturday, with Australia taking on Chinese Taipei in Taichung, Taiwan in Pool B action. Other teams in Pool B include Korea and the Netherlands. Games will continue through March 19th, when the finals are slated to be held in San Francisco, CA.

Pool A also begins on Saturday and features China, Brazil, Cuba and Japan. Those games are set to be played in Fukuoka, Japan.

Pool C, set to be played in San Juan, Puerto Rico beginning on Thursday, features, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and, of course, Puerto Rico.

Pool D, which will be played in Arizona beginning Thursday, will have the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Italy competing against one another.

Semifinal rounds are scheduled for Tokyo, Japan, with two teams each that advance from Pools A and B, and Miami, FL, with two teams each that advance from Pools C and D.

Team USA will include Phils shortstop Jimmy Rollins on the playing roster. Among the club's coaches are former Phillies All-Star and manager Larry Bowa and former Phillie Dale Murphy, who will coach first base for the Americans. Former Phils outfielder Shane Victorino will also be on the U.S. roster.

Team Canada will feature plenty of Phillies, including outfielder Tyson Gillies, infielder Pete Orr, right-handed relief pitcher Phillippe Aumont and lefty hurler Jay Johnson. Additionally, catcher John Suomi, who has played with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs in each of the past three seasons, was added to the Canadian roster this week as a replacement. Former Phillies pitcher Scott Mathieson is also with Team Canada.

The Australian team includes Phillies minor leaguer Tim Kennelly, who switched from utility man to pitcher last season, as well as former Phils infielder Brad Harman and outfielder Chris Snelling, who was once a member of the Phils as well.

Right-handed pitcher Rodrigo Lopez and catcher Sebastian Valle will be the Phillies that represent Mexico. And to wrap up the Phils playing in the WBC, veteran lefty hurler Cesar Jimenez will represent Venezuela, while 18-year-old infielder Lucas Rojo will play for Brazil.

Team Puerto Rico will feature former Phils pitchers J.C. Romero and Nelson Figueroa. Italy will include pitcher Jason Grilli, infielder Nick Punto and utility man Mike Costanzo, who all spent time in the Phils organization.

Phillies first base coach Juan Samuel, a three-time big league All-Star, is slated to join the Dominican team as a coach, while Phils minor league catching coordinator Ernie Whitt, who is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, will manage Team Canada. Whitt had a 15-year big league career, playing with Baltimore, Boston, Toronto and Atlanta.

You can catch broadcasts of this year's Classic on MLB Network as well as on ESPN Deportes.

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page . For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature. Thank you. On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool. Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island. However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon. Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

Chris Truby Speaks on Santana & Other BlueClaws Matters

On Monday, it was announced that the Astros selected outfielder Domingo Santana as the player to be named later in the late July trade that sent Hunter Pence to the Phillies. Santana, a Dominican born slugger, posted a .269 average with 7 HR and 32 RBI in 96 games with the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws. The 19-year-old is regarded as a five tool talent and has been ranked among the Phillies' top ten prospects by multiple national outlets. I had the opportunity to speak with Lakewood manager Chris Truby about Santana, the PTBNL list of five Phillies prospects that the Astros had to choose from, as well as other matters pertaining to the BlueClaws, as they enter the final few weeks of their regular season. Check out the media player below to hear the full interview. ______________________________________________ You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE . You can also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE .

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