Baseball Canada announces roster for WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup
Photo: Baseball Canada
August 26, 2019
By Adam Morissette
Baseball Canada
LISMORE, Australia – Baseball Canada is pleased to announce the 20-player roster that will represent Canada at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup in Gijang, South Korea from August 30 - September 8, 2019.
The announcement follows a six-game exhibition series against Australia’s U-18 side with both nations preparing for the world championship event.
Canada will open the tournament on Friday, August 30th against China (8:30 p.m. E.T., August 29) at Gijang-Hyundai Dream Ballpark III before taking on Netherlands, host South Korea, Australia and Nicaragua in Group A play until September 3. Meanwhile, Group B features four-time defending U-18 world champions USA along with Chinese Taipei, Japan, Panama, Spain and South Africa.
Following the opening round the top three seeds in each group advance to the Super Round that runs from September 5 to 7. The top two seeds following the Super Round will battle for The Title of World Champion on Sunday, September 8.
Historically, Canada has won six medals at the U-18 World Cup including gold in 1991 (Brandon, Man.), silver in 2012 (Seoul, Korea) and bronze in 1983 (USA), 1987 (Windsor, Ont.), 1997 (Moncton, N.B.) and 2006 (Sancti Spiritus, Cuba). Canada is coming off a fourth place finish at the last WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup that was held in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 2017.
Notable
-Eight players named to the roster including OF Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.), 1B/OF Owen Diodati (Niagara Falls, Ont.), LHP Antoine Jean (Montréal, Que.), RHP Theo Millas (Burnaby, BC), LHP Connor O’Halloran (Mississauga, Ont.), C Raphaël Pelletier (Mascouche, Que.), 3B TJ Schofield-Sam (Brampton, Ont.) and OF Cesar Valero (Calgary, Alta.) helped Canada win a bronze medal at the 2018 COPABE U-18 Pan Am Championships in Panama.
-Seven players named to the roster were selected in the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. They include Dasan Brown (3rd round/Blue Jays), TJ Schofield-Sam (12th round/Athletics), Antoine Jean (17th round/Twins), Raphaël Pelletier (25th round/Rangers), Eli Saul (29th round/Rangers), Owen Diodati (29th round/Blue Jays) and Ryan Leitch (29th round/Reds).
-Of the seven MLB Draft selections, Brown and Schofield-Sam have since signed professional contracts and have begun their pro careers with their respective organizations.
-Head Coach Greg Hamilton (Ottawa, Ont.) leads the coaching staff that includes Chris Begg (Uxbridge, Ont.), Hyung Cho (Scarborough, Ont.) and Robert Fatal (Boucherville, Que.).
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