GOLD COAST, Australia- Baseball Canada announced today the 20-player Junior National Team roster that will represent Canada at the IBAF 18U World Cup August 30th - September 8th in Taichung, Taiwan.
The Junior National Team program recently completed a seven-game exhibition series against Australia and Riseisha College from Japan as part of the team’s selection process.
Beginning today, Canada will play three exhibition games against Australia before players, coaches and staff travel to Taichung on August 27th.
Canada will open the 12-team tournament on August 30th against Japan at 9am CST/9pm ET (Aug. 29) at Taichung Stadium.
The Junior National Team roster features:
-Five players that were members of 2012 Junior National Team that won silver at the 2012 IBAF 18U World Cup in Seoul, Korea (Gareth Morgan, Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, Travis Seabrooke, and Owen Spiwak)
-Nine players chosen in last June’s MLB First Year Player Draft (Malik Collymore-Cardinals; Lachlan Fontaine-Mariners; Tyler O’Neill-Mariners; Daniel Procopio-Mets; Cal Quantrill-Yankees; Sean Ratcliffe-Blue Jays; Travis Seabrooke-Orioles; Owen Spiwak-Mets; Chris Thibideau-Padres)
-Five of the drafted players have since signed professional contracts (Collymore, Fontaine, O’Neill, Ratcliffe and Seabrooke)
-The coaching staff is led by Head Coach Greg Hamilton (Ottawa, ON) along with Pitching Coach Chris Reitsma (Calgary, AB) and Coaches Hyung Cho (Scarborough, ON) and Corey Eckstein (Abbotsford, BC)
Canada will compete in Pool A and be joined by Japan, Mexico, Czech Republic, Venezuela and host Chinese Taipei.
Pool B will consist of last year’s gold medalists the United States along with Australia, Colombia, South Korea, Italy and Cuba.
Teams will play a round-robin style format in round one with the top three records in each pool playing each other in crossover games.
Following round two, the top two records will meet for gold, while the third a fourth best records will play to decide the bronze medal.
