{"id":2269083,"date":"2026-02-06T03:31:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2269083"},"modified":"2026-02-06T03:31:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:31:23","slug":"which-royals-will-be-playing-in-the-world-baseball-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/which-royals-will-be-playing-in-the-world-baseball-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Which Royals will be playing in the World Baseball Classic?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"\">March means spring training, roster battles, and this year, a reminder that baseball is very much a global sport. The World Baseball Classic is back, with players representing their native land (or, in some cases, the lands of their ancestors). So many Royals players won\u2019t be in camp early on, they\u2019ll be playing in games that can take on a postseason atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Which members of the organization are trading games in Surprise for the WBC spotlight?<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Team USA<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">Team USA brings a stacked squad to celebrate the nation\u2019s semiquincentennial this year. Leading the team will be Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., on the team for a second time. Last time around in 2023, he was still green and sat the bench while the more established stars took the field. This time, he\u2019ll be one of those stars, part of a dangerous lineup of sluggers that includes Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, Alex Bregman, Cal Raeligh, and Pete Crow-Armstrong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Joining Bobby on Team USA is Royals pitcher Michael Wacha. Also on the pitching staff are former Royals Gabe Speier and Brad Keller. They\u2019ll be joined by Joe Ryan, Mason Miller, and Tarik Skubal, with a rookie in Nolan McLean, and a retired future Hall of Famer in Clayton Kershaw.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Team Venezuela<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">El Capit\u00e1n, Salvador Perez, will be leading the Venezuelan squad with fellow Royals All-Star Maikel Garcia. They\u2019ll be joined by Garcia\u2019s cousin, Braves star outfielder Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. Slugger Eugenio Su\u00e1rez, Jackson Chourio, Gleyber Torres, and brothers William and Willson Contreras will all be featured in the lineup. The pitching staff will feature Pablo L\u00f3pez, Ranger Su\u00e1rez, and Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez, as well as former Royals pitcher Angel Zerpa and Andr\u00e9s Machado.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Team Dominican Republic<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">The Dominican team could also be a contender for the championship with a team of stars that includes Ketel Marte, Manny Machado, Julio Rodr\u00edguez, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis, Jr., and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Manager Albert Pujols will have a tough time deciding which stars should be in the lineup. The team also has some veterans, like former Royals first baseman Carlos Santana.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The pitching staff is pretty loaded as well, with Sandy Alcantara, Cristopher S\u00e1nchez, and Luis Severino. Closing things out will be the MLB saves leader from last year, Royals reliever Carlos Est\u00e9vez.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Team Puerto Rico<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">The Puerto Rican team has been beset by issues with getting players insured, which has caused some players to pull out. Still, they will field a formidable roster that includes Royals pitcher Seth Lugo. Other top arms include Edwin Diaz, Fernando Cruz, and Jorge Lopez. The lineup boasts Nolan Arenado, Heliot Ramos, and Willi Castro. Former Royals MJ Melendez, Emmanuel Rivera, and Mart\u00edn Maldonado will also be on the lineup.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Team Italy<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\">A pair of paisanos from Kansas City will slug for Team Italy \u2013 Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone. Vinnie hit for the Italians in the last World Baseball Classic. They\u2019ll be joined by former Royals pitcher Micahel Lorenzen, Phillies pitcher Aaron Nolan, and White Sox catcher Kyle Teel.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\"\/>\n<p class=\"\">Other Royals on rosters include infielder Abraham Toro and pitcher Eric Cerantola on Team Canada, catcher Jorge Alfaro on Team Colombia, catcher Omar Hernandez on Team Cuba, pitcher Eli Morgan on Team Italy, and pitcher Oscar Rayo on Team Nicaragua. Other former Royals include Cheslor Cuthbert (Nicaragua) and Nate Eaton (Great Britain). You can find <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/world-baseball-classic\/roster\/united-states\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:complete rosters here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">complete rosters here<\/a>, and players <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/mlb-players-on-2026-world-baseball-classic-rosters\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:divided by MLB team here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">divided by MLB team here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Altogether, there are 190 big leaguers on 20 team rosters, including 78 All-Stars. The tournament kicks off on March 5 (March 4 at 9 p.m. CT) in Tokyo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March means spring training, roster battles, and this year, a reminder that baseball is very much a global sport. The World Baseball Classic is back, with players representing their native land (or, in some cases, the lands of their ancestors). So many Royals players won\u2019t be in camp early on, they\u2019ll be playing in games [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2269084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[350142,425865,435833,406172,424371,91466,425330,370412,308583,439364,376233,439356,432296,439362,439361,374443,439357,352103,439354,279830,439353,340584,430070,439355,349013,349976,431261,340902,439352,313842,439351,439358,423194,311237,439363,423155,437873,329048,377412,345066,377413,439360,439113,430409,77699,439365,244474,359143,439349,432530,439350,102808,376459,329003,439359,423154,400055],"class_list":["post-2269083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-aaron-judge","tag-abraham-toro","tag-albert-pujols","tag-alex-bregman","tag-angel-zerpa","tag-bobby-witt-jr","tag-brad-keller","tag-bryce-harper","tag-carlos-estevez","tag-cheslor-cuthbert","tag-clayton-kershaw","tag-edwin-diaz","tag-eli-morgan","tag-emmanuel-rivera","tag-eric-cerantola","tag-eugenio-suarez","tag-german-marquez","tag-gleyber-torres","tag-heliot-ramos","tag-jac-caglianone","tag-jackson-chourio","tag-joe-ryan","tag-jorge-alfaro","tag-jorge-lopez","tag-juan-soto","tag-julio-rodriguez","tag-ketel-marte","tag-lorenzen","tag-luis-severino","tag-maikel-garcia","tag-manny-machado","tag-martin-maldonado","tag-mason-miller","tag-michael-wacha","tag-nate-eaton","tag-nolan-arenado","tag-nolan-mclean","tag-pablo-lopez","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-phillies","tag-ranger-suarez","tag-ronald-acuna-jr","tag-royals-pitcher","tag-royals-players","tag-salvador-perez","tag-sandy-alcantara","tag-seth-lugo","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-team-cuba","tag-team-usa","tag-usa-baseball","tag-vinnie-pasquantino","tag-vladimir-guerrero-jr","tag-white-sox","tag-willi-castro","tag-willson-contreras","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Which-Royals-will-be-playing-in-the-World-Baseball-Classic.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2269083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2269085,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2269083\/revisions\/2269085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2269084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2269083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2269083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2269083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}