2023 World Baseball Classic: How many players are allowed on the roster for each team?

After a long, six-year hiatus, the World Baseball Classic is back and the new expanded format will see twenty nations compete for the championship. All sixteen countries who competed in the 2017 WBC were invited back, with four new spots for qualifying teams.

Through last year, there were qualifying rounds in Regensburg, Germany and Panama City, Panama to award those spots and as the dust settles, Panama will return to the competition as the Czech Republic, Great Britain, and Nicaragua have all qualified for the very first time.

The first-round will be played in four pools, hosted in Taichung (Taiwan) Tokyo (Japan), Phoenix, and Miami. The top two teams from each of those pools will proceed to the second round, which will be played in Tokyo and Miami. The Championship round will be held in Miami.

Each team will be permitted a roster of 30 players, which must include a minimum of 14 pitchers and two catchers. With the strict pitch-count rule in place that only allows a pitcher in the WBC to throw a maximum of 65 pitches in the opening round, 80 pitches in the second round, and 95 pitches in the final round, you can expect all pitchers to get some work in.

Additionally, teams will be allowed to designate 10 further pitchers who may be called up at any point to replace an injured pitcher.

With this minimum of 16 players in the battery, teams are then free to split the remaining 14 positions as they see fit. Some teams have taken along extra infielders, some extra outfielders, a few have taken a spare catcher, and others have placed the focus on the mound, bringing more pitching help.

There are a couple of notable lineups, such as Japan’s, which includes Shohei Ohtani as a two-way player in the roster rather than a pure pitcher, and Venezuela’s which features Miguel Cabrera as a designated hitter. While all teams will play with a DH, they are the only one that lists him as such on their official roster.