World Baseball Classic Preview, Part One

World Baseball Classic Preview

The World Baseball Classic has got to be one of the most underrated international competitions in sports. I may be biased due to my innate love of anything worldly, but there’s just something about seeing Italy, Holland, and South Africa go up against the giants of the Dominican Republic, USA, and Venezuela that really gets me going. In honor of it starting at the bright and early hour of 4:30 AM Thursday, I present to you my World Baseball Classic Preview.

Pool A
This is the Far East pool, consisting of China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Korea. These teams have been preparing since as early as January 1 and will be ready to play right off the bat, and because these countries traditionally exhibit great national pride, expect them to leave it all on the field.


Japan
Look for Japan to run away win this group fairly easily. Led on the mound by Yu Darvish and Daisuke Matsuzaka, two of Blaine’s biggest man-crushes, and Ichiro Suzuki, Akinori Iwamura, and Kosuke Fukudome in the field, they have the most experience in the pool. Players such as Yu Darvish will be using this event to show off their skills to the major league scouts in attendance. The Japanese took great pride in winning the last event and will certainly do their best to take this one.


Korea
With only one major leaguer on their roster, Shin-Soo Choo, one might think the Koreans are not too big of a threat to Japan. However, they did surprise in the 2006 tournament, defeating Japan twice along with Mexico and the USA on their way to finally succumbing to Japan in the Semifinals, and then they won the gold at the Beijing Olympics. Slugger Seung Yeop Lee will look to repeat his performance of 5 HR, 10 RBI and a .333 AVG from the last tournament, while their baffling pitching staff would be more than happy to repeat their 2.00 team ERA performance from 2006.


Chinese Taipei
A legendarily good youth baseball nation, Chinese Taipei is on the doorstep of international prominence. A moderate 2-5 performance at the Olympics was a good warmup for this youth-loaded team sprinkled with some minor league prospects.


China
A developing baseball nation, China has three major league prospects, Kai Liu and Zhenwang Zhang of the Yankees, and Ray Chang of the Pirates. However, don’t expect this to help out much, because as their 1-6 record at the Olympics indicates, they are some time away from becoming a factor on the international baseball stage.


My Picks: Japan to win, Korea in second

Pool B
This group is pretty much pre-determined as to who will move on. Both Cuba and Mexico look to win the tournament and have a chance to, while Australia and South Africa are just along for the ride and the experience.


Cuba
Cuba is a team made up entirely of players from the Cuban national baseball system, and they have a strong young nucleus of players that led them to success in 2006 when they got to the finals, beating Venezuela and the Dominican Republic on the way. Alexei Ramirez was on that 2006 team and he used his success in the tournament to vault himself into the majors, where he is now helping out the hated White Sox. Hitting-wise they will be led by Frederich Cepeda, who hit .385 with a 1.231 OPS in the 2006 tournament. Not on the team this year is Yadel Marti, who threw 12.2 scoreless innings in 2006 and was on the all-tournament team, and Yasser Gomez, who hit .394 in the Cuban League in 2007. Word is that they were caught trying to defect. However, as Cuba has gotten Gold or Silver in the past 5 Olympics to go with their Silver at the last Classic, they are sure to make a run.


Mexico
Mexico is made up of many recognizable names and led by Vinny Castilla and Fernando Valenzuela in the dugout. There are two pairs of brothers on the team, Adrian and Edgar Gonzalez and Jerry and Scott Hairston. That feeling of brotherhood is extended to the rest of the team, as they are having a great time working out in Mexico. On the field, they will be led by Adrian Gonzalez and Jorge Cantu, who hit .333 with 2 HR in the 2006 Classic. They have a solid pitching staff with Jorge Campillo, Elmber Dessens, Oliver Perez, and Joakim Soria. Pitching was their strong suit in the 2006 Classic, where they had a 2.77 team ERA.


Australia
Australia went 0-3 in the previous classic, with pathetic pitching and hitting efforts. It remains to be seen how they will do this time around, with no recognizable names with Ryan Rowland-Smith sitting this one out. However, they do have many young players in minor league systems that will be out to impress their major league teams, including reliever Rich Thompson of the Angels, who got a taste of the majors early last season before his shoulder gave out.


South Africa
South Africa lost to the United States 17-0 in five innings in their final game of last year’s classic, and they go up against Cuba to start this one. They admittedly have not really got any better, but at least they have six minor league prospects, including Barry Armitage, who pitched in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.


My Picks: Cuba to win, Mexico in second

Well due to time constraints (read: Purdue plays Northwestern tonight), this is all I can give you for now. Pools C and D will come soon, maybe if I get up for the 4:30 AM China-Japan game tomorrow…

Interesting Baseball Fact Of The Day, International Style: There are 22 shortstops that have come out of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. In alphabetical order: Manny Alexander, Juan Bell, Juan Castillo, Mariano Duncan, Tony Fernandez, Pepe Frias, Luis Garcia, Pedro Gonzalez, Julian Javier, Manuel Lee, Norberto Martin, Nelson Norman, Jose Offerman, Elvis Pena, Santiago Perez, Rafael Ramirez, Rafael Robles, Eddie Rogers, Amado Samuel, Andres Santana, Juan Sosa, and Mr. Two Grand Slams in One Inning, Fernando Tatis (even though he only played 3 games at shortstop in his career).