World Baseball Classic: 8 Phillies to play March tournament
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) -- Eight current members of the Philadelphia Phillies were named to rosters in next month's World Baseball Classic. The tournament returns for a fifth edition after it was called off in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Here is a list of current Phillies who are playing in the WBC.
United States: Catcher J.T. Realmuto, left fielder Kyle Schwarber and shortstop Trea Turner; Bryce Harper committed to play last August but Tommy John surgery will force him to miss the tournament
Dominican Republic: Reliever Gregory Soto
Venezuela: Starting pitcher Ranger Suarez and reliever Jose Alvarado
Mexico: Starting pitcher Taijuan Walker
Israel: Catcher Garrett Stubbs
The Phillies also have eight minor league players on WBC rosters.
Pitchers: Erubiel Aremnta (Mexico), Malik Binns (Great Britain), Jayden Estanista (Netherlands), Brian Marconi (Italy) and Noah Skirrow (Canada)
Batters: Catcher Vito Friscia (Italy), infielder Vimael Machin (Puerto Rico) and infielder Rixon Wingrove (Australia)
Phillies fans will also find some other old friends on rosters, which are available on MLB's website.
How the World Baseball Classic works
The 20-nation tournament will be played from March 7-21.
Six hundred players will participate in the tournament, including 67 major league All-Stars -- 35 of which are from last season.
Each team must include at least 14 pitchers and two catchers.
A pitcher is limited to 65 pitches during a first-round game, 80 in a quarterfinal and 95 in the championship round, though a limit can be exceeded to finish a plate appearance.
A pitcher may not pitch in games on three consecutive days.
There must be one day off after throwing 30 or more pitches and two days off after throwing 50 or more pitches.
When do games begin?
Netherlands plays Cuba in the tournament opener on March 7.
The first round groups are:
A: Taichung, March 8-13 — Cuba, Italy, Netherlands, Taiwan.
B: Tokyo, March 9-13 — Australia, China, Japan, South Korea.
C: Phoenix, March 11-15 — Canada, Colombia, Mexico, United States.
D: Miami, March 11-15 — Dominican Republic, Israel, Puerto Rico Venezuela.
What's next?
The top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals, at Tokyo on March 15-16 and at Miami on March 17-18.
The semifinals on March 19 and the final will be at Marlins Park.
WBC history
This will be the fifth edition of the WBC following victories by Japan in 2006 and '09, the Dominican Republic in 2013 and the U.S. in 2017. A scheduled 2021 tournament was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
