After the first two games of USA Baseball’s Prospect Classic, it was time for the 18 and under team to make cuts. There were 40 high schoolers in attendance and the roster needed to be cut down to 28. Those 28 will play in games three and four of the Classic on Monday and Tuesday against the Collegiate National Team.
In case you missed it, here’s my feature on Jeremy Martinez, who did make the cut.
There were some tough choices to make, to be sure. The depth in catching alone was something that had to give. USA Baseball opted to take three backstops with them to the next step of the process — Martinez, Reese McGuire and Chris Okey. Here’s the 28-man roster:
| Abreu | William | OF |
| Arroyo | Christian | IF |
| Biggio | Cavan | IF/OF |
| Boldt | Ryan | OF |
| Brigman | Bryson | IF/OF |
| Davis | Kevin | RHP |
| Gonsalves | Stephen | LHP |
| Gordon | Nick | RHP |
| Heady | Connor | IF/RHP |
| Kaminsky | Robert | LHP |
| Kilichowski | John | LHP |
| Martinek | Christian | LHP |
| Martinez | Jeremy | C |
| McGuire | Andy | IF |
| McGuire | Reese | C |
| Nunez | Dom | IF |
| Okey | Chris | C |
| Olson | Ryan | RHP |
| Roth | Billy | RHP |
| Sands | Carson | LHP |
| Shore | Logan | IF/RHP |
| Sternagel | John | IF |
| Taccolini | Dominic | RHP |
| Thompson | Keegan | RHP |
| Unroe | Riley | OF |
| Varga | Cameron | RHP |
| Ward | Drew | IF |
| Williams | Garrett | LHP |
Brigman, Gordon (Tom’s son, Dee’s brother), Martinek, Sands, Varga and Ward are all Class of 2014 guys.
In case you were curious, here’s the dozen who are no longer on the roster:
Pete Alonso
Ryan Castellini
Nick Ciuffo
Ian Clarkin
Rob Coleman
Nico Giarratano
Hunter Green
Anfernee Grier
Ryder Jones
Timmy Richards
Kyle Serrano
Eugene Vazquez
It’s quite an accomplishment to have made it this far, given that the Tournament of Stars began with 144 players here to be evaluated.
There’s still one more cut to go. The final roster that goes to Seoul for the IBAF Junior 18U World Championships will have just 20 players on it. So eight more from the 28 won’t make the trip. Glad I’m not the one who has to make that decision.
