The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) announced Thursday the final rosters for the first round of the 2009 IBAF Baseball World Cup, which will be held across five different European cities next weekend, 9-12 September. The rosters contain a World Cup-record of more than 100 current professional players not currently on 25-man Major League Baseball (MLB) rosters.
Joining these athletes are 11 former MLB-affiliated players, 13 past and present players from the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), and members of numerous other professional leagues from Europe and around the world. The overall number of professionals competing in this year’s tournament is more than double that of the 2007 World Cup. Additionally, this number is set to increase in the World Cup’s second round, as Italy and the Netherlands – second round hosts which received a round 1 bye – will announce their rosters which promise to include MLB-affiliated players and players from Italian and Dutch professional leagues as well.
“We are thrilled about the continued development of baseball on all levels around the world as a sport for all, and the World Cup, which will begin next week and will go throughout September in Europe, is very symbolic of that growth,” IBAF President Dr. Harvey Schiller said. “It is exciting to see the number of players affiliated with Major League Baseball competing for countries like Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, and the Czech Republic, and we look forward to the enthusiasm that their participation will generate in the first round host nations.”
The MLB organization sending the most players under contract is the Minnesota Twins, who will be represented by 10 players, including six from Australia. All players on the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico rosters are either currently or have previously been under professional contract with an MLB club, while Australia has 17 current or former MLB-affiliated professional players on its roster.
A complete breakdown of past and present MLB-affiliated professional players is below, by country. Players with MLB experience and the teams they played for are in bold italic.
For the latest 2009 World Cup news and complete rosters for each round 1 team, please visit
www.2009baseballworldcup.com.
AUSTRALIA ORG
James Beresford MIN
Travis Blackley ARI
Adam Bright COL
Bradley Harman PHI
Liam Hendriks MIN
Justin Huber MIN
Luke Hughes MIN
Matthew Kennelly ATL
Timothy Kennelly PHI
Paul Mildren PIT
Damian Moss COL
Joel Naughton PHI
Drew Naylor PHI
Bradley Tippett MIN
David Welch MIL
Stefan Welch NYY
Matthew Williams MIN
Brendan Wise DET
CANADA
Cole Armstrong CWS
Chris Begg SF
Shawn Bowman NYM
Nick Bucci MIL
Terrance Dayleg FLA
Bryan Dumesnil TOR
Emerson Frostad TEX
Jimmy Henderson MIL
Chris Kissock PHI
Brett Lawrie MIL
Adam Loewen TOR
Trystan Magnuson TOR
Jonathan Malo NYM
Brooks McNiven SF
Dustin Molleken PIT
Jamie Richmond OAK
Chris Robinson CHC
Tim Smith TEX
Adam Stern MIL
Robert Swindle MIN
Philippe Valiquette CIN
Jimmy Van Ostrand HOU
CHINESE TAIPEI
Yi Lin Wang BOS
CZECH REPUBLIC
Jan Rehacek MIN
Petr Cech CIN
Matej Hejma MIN
GERMANY
Kai Gronauer NYM
Donald Lutz CIN
GREAT BRITAIN
Thomas Boleska PIT
MEXICO
Arturo Lopez NYY
Pablo Oramas SD
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
R. van Gurp NYY
NICARAGUA
Eilvin Orozco NYY
PUERTO RICO
Raul Casanova NYM
Carlos Rivera COL, HOU, PIT
Tony Valentin NYM
Alex Cintron WSH
Luis Matos NYM, PIT, BAL
Ruben Gotay ARI
Miguel Abreu BAL
Irvin Falu KC
Miguel Negron CHW
Angel Sanchez TOR
Stephen Morales SD, CHW, FLA
Orlando Mercado ARI
Luis Atilano WSH
Mario Santiago KC
Alex Woodson CHW
Jose Santiago NYM, CLE, KC
Orlando Roman TOR, BAL, NYM
Melvin Pizarro SEA, PHI
Nelvin Fuentes MIN
Efrain Nieves MIL
Juan Padilla NYM
Angel Garcia OAK
RJ Rodriguez PIT
Miguel Mejia DET
SOUTH AFRICA
Anthony Phillips SEA
Gift Ngoepe PIT
Brett Willemburg PIT
Hein Robb MIN
Dylan Lindsay KC
SPAIN
Paco Figueroa BAL
Daniel Figueroa BAL
Antonio Noguera HOU
Lesther Galvan MIN
Rhiner A Cruz NYM
Eric Gonzalez SD
SWEDEN
Christian Staehely SEA
USA
Pedro Alvarez PIT
Cedrick Bowers PHI
Jason Castro HOU
Jason Childers TB
Ike Davis NYM
Daniel Descalo STL
Geno Espineli SF
Nate Field FLA
Lucas Harrell CHW
Tug Hulett KC
Kasey Kiker TEX
Josh Kroeger CHW
Cory Luebke SD
Brad Lincoln PIT
Trevor Plouffe MIN
Trevor Reckling LAA
Todd Redmond ATL
B.J. Rosenberg PHI
Justin Smoak TEX
Terry Tiffee PHI
Ehren Wasserman CHW
Jon Weber TB
QUOTO