World Baseball Classic 2023: Mike Trout named Team USA’s captain

Mike Trout, a Millville, New Jersey native, announced that he has committed to play for Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the first player to do so. The three-time American League Most Valuable Player, 10-time All-Star (named MVP twice), eight-time Silver Slugger and 2012 A.L. Rookie of the Year was also confirmed as the Team USA captain by GM Tony Reagins.

“I’m looking forward to playing for our country,” said Trout during an All-Star Game media session.

Other major leaguers who will appear in the WBC include Trey Mancini, who has committed to play for Italy, and Joc Pederson, who has committed to play for Israel, while Freddie Freeman has said that he is open to playing for Canada. At the moment, Trout is the only player to have committed to Team USA, but those ranks will fill as time goes on, and we can certainly expect the Caribbean nations to post strong lineups with MLB talent committing to their national sides over the coming months.

The WBC is a tournament that was conceived of as a replacement to the loss of Olympic baseball, and modelled after FIFA’s World Cup in soccer. MLB was famously reluctant to give players off to appear in the Olympics, but has gone all-in during recent years with the WBC in their effort to grow the game globally. Japan won the inaugural event in 2006 and repeated in 2009, before seeing the Dominican Republic take the crown in 2013. Team USA won the 2017 event and was scheduled to defend their title when covid led to the last event being cancelled. 2023 will be the first post-covid WBC.

Team USA will start off the competition in Pool C, alongside Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and a fifth team as yet to be determined. There will be a qualifier event in the Fall of 2022 to decide the final member of the pool.