Welcome to the International Beat newsletter. I'm MLB.com's Michael Clair and I'm glad you're here. |
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Team USA is not playing around. The World Baseball Classic is still 10 months away, but USA Baseball is making it clear that another second-place finish is not acceptable. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge -- in the midst of another MVP Award-caliber season -- was named as the team’s captain for next year’s tournament and on Tuesday, USA got its ace: Pirates starter Paul Skenes committed to the ballclub, giving the national team its most dominant pitcher in the tournament’s history. I had a chance to speak with new Team USA general manager Michael Hill about his approach to building the team and its star-studded roster ahead of next year. Here is that interview, edited and condensed for length and readability. MLB: What is the mindset going into next year’s World Baseball Classic? Michael Hill: Our approach is that we want all hands on deck. There's a ton of excitement. The 2023 event was amazing, but we came up short as a country, as a team, as a nation, and all of our American players are on notice. This is America's pastime. We are the best in the world, and our goal is to go out there and prove it in 2026. That's our goal, that's Mark DeRosa's goal. It’s a cumulative effort. We’re taking the feedback from an incredibly talented, experienced coaching staff, and really, beyond Judge, the entire country is our playing field right now. We are still early in the process. We don't have to finalize any provisional rosters until the end of the season, and then our 30 [man roster is not due] until February. We have the best players in the world. We're going to let them go out and basically audition and show us that they want to be a part of this. |
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Aaron Judge and Mark DeRosa answer questions after Judge was named Team USA captain. |
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MLB: What interested you in taking on this job? Hill: I was around it in 2023, being the senior vice president of on-field operations. My team was at all the venues, and we were making sure everything was running smoothly from a baseball operations standpoint, and working closely with our umpiring group for every game that was played here in the States in 2023. From that standpoint, I got to feel it, live it, breathe it, and feel that disappointment of coming up short. So, when the opportunity was presented to me to be a part of it in 2026, I was all in because obviously, I'm a proud American. I've dedicated my life and career to baseball, and I've got a World Series to my credit. I think this would just be an amazing addition to my resume, and I would be extremely proud to say that I was able to don the red, white and blue, and represent my country and bring home a gold medal, a championship for the United States. MLB: Mark DeRosa is back as the manager. What impressed you about him? Hill: I don't know if people know this, but when I was president of baseball operations for the Marlins, I interviewed Mark when we had an opening. We ended up going with Don Mattingly, because we went with experience, but I was incredibly impressed with his knowledge of the game, his passion for the game, and getting to be around him in 2023 I saw all of those things. I saw how his players responded to him. I think experience is always the best teacher. And when we were considering potential managers, the fact that he had been through it and had gleaned things from going through it in 2023 made him the perfect choice for 2026. MLB: Aaron Judge was then named to be the captain of the team. What does this mean for USA Baseball? Hill: Just shows that the MVP of the league and arguably the best player in the game of baseball is all in for this tournament. It just speaks volumes to every other player who may or may not be committed to this tournament that we have arguably the best player committed. If you have pride in your country and you want to support this team and help this team go out and win a championship, we have our best committed. You need to be willing to get on board as well. He was the obvious choice. MLB: You followed that up by announcing Paul Skenes’ participation. He’s arguably the best pitcher to play for Team USA in the tournament’s history. Hill: From the beginning and talking with Mark, we wanted our best. We want to give ourselves every opportunity to win gold and bring home a championship. We know that pitching sets the tone, and so for us to get the reigning National League Rookie of the Year and arguably one of the top starting pitchers in our game, just shows that we've got our players in the same mindset. They're committed to this tournament and committed to doing their part to help us bring home a championship. |
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Michael Hill, right, speaks with Cubs manager Craig Counsell during the 2025 Tokyo Series. |
MLB: Skenes aside, pitching tends to be the most difficult position to fill. How do you plan to go about building the staff? Hill: Again, the beauty of bringing Mark back and bringing Andy [Pettitte] back as the pitching coach is that they're coming with those experiences from 2023. Obviously we want our best pitching, but I think as you look and our schedule has been released, you build it to get through the tournament successfully. We have two games, and then we have an off day, and then we have two more games before you get to the knockout round. I think that that helps in giving you a landscape of how you want to build your pitching staff. When I call my other GMs in the game, I’ll be able to speak to them and they’ll know fully well that I'm going to take care of their players, their pitchers, as if they were my own. Any GM who I'm going to talk to, they know me because I've been in this game over 30 years. They know that I'm going to do right by their players and give us the best opportunity to win, but also knowing that we're going to follow all of the protocols put in place and safeguards to make sure that their players get back to them healthy and ready for the 2026 season. MLB: How do you balance the team? With so many superstars, how do you build a team and not just have a fantasy roster? Hill: The thing that makes so many great players great is that they're great teammates. That's something that is important to both Mark and I. We want great players, but we want great teammates as well, because when you are assembling a team, a lot of times you’ve got to check your ego at the door if you're going to achieve your ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to win a championship. When you look at the roster that we ultimately put together, it's going to be extremely talented, but it's going to be extremely selfless, and it's going to include players that will do their part, support one another and do whatever the team needs to help us win a championship. MLB: Japan is the only team to win multiple times and they have three World Baseball Classic trophies. Have you learned anything from watching them? Hill: The biggest thing that jumped out to me since the first tournament is that Japan always has their best players. It's never a question about their best players supporting their country, it's not even a discussion. We haven't always had our best participants in the event. If anything, I think that's something for our players to take notice of. We have countries whose players are important to them, and they go out there to support their nation. It's not a question for those other countries, whereas, for whatever reason, we haven't always got our best. But I hope that's over. Japan took the championship in 2023 and I hope that our players took notice. If we're going to claim to be the best in the world, I think we need to put up or shut up. We need to go show the world that we are the best, and you only do that on the field with your best players. MLB: Is there a message you want the players to know? Hill: The message is this is for our country. We're going out there to compete for the red, white and blue. We're going to have an exciting team, and it's going to be a talented team and a team that this entire country is going to be proud of because we're going to play the game the right way. We're going to play it to win and we're not going to stop until that last out is made and Team USA is coming out on top. |
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A walk-off hit from Granada, Nicaragua, courtesy newsletter reader Scott H. Click photo to view video. |
DISPATCHES FROM NICARAGUAN BASEBALL
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Nicaragua recently claimed its spot in the 2026 World Baseball Classic with a perfect run through the Taipei Qualifiers, but the country's baseball doesn't end there. Newsletter reader Scott H., who moved from the U.S. to Nicaragua, has become a big fan of the local league. For those curious about baseball around the globe, he was kind enough to send in a report on what it's like to be a fan in Nicaragua. Here is his email:
For the majority of the year, Nicaragua has the twenty-team Germán Pomares Ordóñez league, with players only from Nicaragua. As there are other professional leagues playing during this time, these are the best Nicaraguan players who aren't in the Minors, independent ball, or other pro leagues. But I think it's a blast as each department (basically the same as a "state" in the USA) has its own team and players must be from that department to play for it. You can't recruit a good buddy to come from another part of the country to join the team. So, I look at it as a lot of guys who likely began playing with and against each other as little kids still fighting for their local team. Players range from around 18 years to mid-30s and a decent number have experience playing up in the USA or in other pro leagues. All in all, pretty good quality of ball -- especially when considering a ticket is under $3 for a double header. "Festive" is one way to usually describe things at the ballpark. There are often bands with percussion and brass instruments playing during the games. Not just between innings, mind you, but during actual play! I often wonder how difficult it is for players from this environment to adjust to playing in the USA where fans get excited mainly after a big play or between pitches during a critical at bat. For them it must be, "It's so quiet!" Crowds are usually pretty decent, especially for longstanding rivalries against nearby teams. Sometimes they play at 10am on Sunday, and the crowd is lighter until church lets out. The playoffs are another level entirely. When Granada was in the semifinals a few years back, the stadium would open for ticket sales at 10 a.m. for a 6:30 p.m. game. I would buy tickets for my group and stay at the stadium all afternoon using a rope to tie up the seats I was saving (no assigned seat numbers) for the game which began hours later. Once it got within an hour or so of first pitch, the crowd started to cheer and get rowdy. Again, one of those you have to experience in person to really appreciate it deals. Ballpark fare includes standards like hot dogs, pizza, peanuts, etc. But also, much more local stuff like vigaron -- the specialty here in Granada, which consists of a base of mashed yucca, topped with spicy cabbage slaw, and chicharron (deep fried pork rinds) served on a bed of plantain leaves. Other local offerings include ceviche, quesillo, empanadas, and arepas. Of course, cold cerveza is on offer! As for ballparks around the country, most are modest older structures. There are three new stadiums that have been built since we moved here in 2016. The national stadium in Managua was opened in 2017 and is the largest (capacity approx. 15K). Then in 2023 a new stadium opened in Masaya, and last year Leon opened its new stadium. We're just content that Granada got the light towers operational again so we can host night games which draw larger crowds! |
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Croatia's new coaching staff. Click the photo to view the article. |
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PLAYER OF THE MONTH Pirates prospect David Matoma, who is hoping to become the first player from Uganda to reach the Major Leagues, made his full-season debut last month for the Single-A Bradenton Marauders. The 19-year-old has used his upper-90s heat to good effect, striking out 10 batters in 7 1/3 innings of work at the time of this writing. While he'll want to cut down on his walks, MLB Pipeline noted, "Considering that Matoma has played so little baseball, he's done an impressive job throwing strikes consistently."
There's a long way to go from Single-A to the Majors, but an important first step was taken. |
Click photo to watch Matoma strike out three in a recent appearance. |
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To subscribe to International Beat, visit this page and mark "International Beat" from our newsletter list. For tips, hints, or just to talk about international baseball, find me @michaelsclair on X/Twitter and IG or email me at Michael.Clair@MLB.com. |
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