Friday, September 26

Welcome to the International Beat newsletter. I'm MLB.com's Michael Clair and I'm glad you're here. 

The U-18 World Cup is often the first peek at the stars who will soon dominate the professional game. Stars like Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Joey Votto, and Francisco Lindor all made their mark at the tournament. Most recently, Team USA – led by potential first overall pick Grady Emerson – defeated Japan for the gold medal in Okinawa. While I was in Salt Lake City for the HRDX Finals (where Emerson again starred), I ran into the great Tyler Maun, who was one of the broadcasters at the World Cup. I spoke with Maun about his impressions from the tournament and which names we should be on the lookout for in the future. 

Interview condensed for length and readability. 

MLB: What was the experience like working in Okinawa, especially just a few weeks after local Shogaku High School won the Summer Koshien? 

Tyler Maun: It was incredible. The baseball energy that you could feel in Naha especially, was very tangible. People were walking around in their Shogaku High School Championship T- shirts, commemorative newspapers were everywhere, and there were leftover signs you saw on the side of the road or in people's front windows. It was the perfect time to have the U-18 tournament anywhere in Japan, but especially in Okinawa, since they had just won, and there were some Shogaku High School guys on that roster for Japan. It really could not have been more perfectly placed as an event. 

MLB: It ends with the USA winning against Japan. Was this the expectation going into the event? Were there some other nations in the running? 

TM: There's always the big four in these events. There's the U.S., Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei. Over the years, we've seen some other teams make runs. Canada was really good at Thunder Bay a few years ago, Cuba had a U-15 team back in 2021 in Hermosillo, Mexico, that made it to the world championship final against the U.S. There were some guys on the Cuba team this year who were on that U-15 team, much like Grady Emerson with the US. But it did feel as though Japan and the U.S. were going to be the teams on a collision course. It honestly felt more like you had to write the U.S. in pencil, rather than Japan, because two years ago, the U.S. didn't medal. They had their worst finish in I don't even remember how long at a U-18, and they just looked like they weren't built for that moment two years ago.

It became very clear, very early that this was a U.S. team that had it. They knew that they were the best team on any given day. Even though they took a loss to Japan in a game, they very much had the aura about them of a team that knew that they were going to be playing for a championship and -- more likely than not -- winning a championship.

USA celebrates its victory. Photo courtesy WBSC. 

MLB: Grady Emerson: potential first overall pick next year. How did he look in Japan?

TM: It’s funny, because my thought was like, ‘Ah, Grady Emerson is your three-hole guy, four-hole guy, you know, a third baseman who hits for some pop.’ He told me, ‘Nah, I'm really more of a singles guy,’ because the U.S. led him off for every game in the World Cup. I didn't expect that going in. He's a really dangerous bat at the top of the order. To throw him out there as the first guy that an opposing pitching staff has to see sends a message of how deep that lineup is going to be, one through nine. 

He’s really impressive. I think he's very much the baseball leader that so many teams want, because he's the cliche of not getting too high or too low. He leads by example in a lot of ways, and he's just steady and he's a super nice kid. 

MLB: Will Brick hit .667 for the USA. Who are some of the other notable players for USA? 

TM: We talk so often about the 2017 USA baseball team, which gave up three earned runs in 70 innings for the entirety of that U-18 World Cup that they won in Canada. This U.S. team gave up five earned runs total for the entire tournament.

Gio Rojas, I think, is probably the guy who most leads the way. He struck out 13 in 11 innings, walked three, didn't give up a run, and just overpowered everybody that he saw. He's a big-bodied guy, upper-90s stuff, and the presence of a future frontline sort of dude. He's committed to Miami, but another one that wouldn’t surprise anybody if he's a very high first-rounder and ends up making a quick track through the Minors. 

Coleman Borthwick was really impressive. He was the MVP,  so he pitched twice, gave up three hits, struck out 12 in 10 innings. And then the days when he wasn't pitching, he was playing first or he was hitting. He's a Hulk, he's built like an NFL player. He’s another guy where the moment never felt too big for him. 

One of my favorite stories was CJ Sampson, who is not the most highly touted prospect, but he was cut by USA Baseball teams three times at U-12, U-15 and U-18, and he finally made it in his last shot. He puts up an OPS over .700, he pitched a little bit, just a guy who you could not help but cheer for. 

Coleman Borthwick, the MVP of the tournament, throws a pitch. Photo courtesy WBSC.

MLB: How about Japan? Who stood out there? 

TM: So often, we end up seeing catchers from Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei who are really defensively advanced. Yu Yokoyama was amazing. I really liked watching him. 

Hyume Okabe, who was their captain, hit .400 with an OPS of .999. The best thing about him was he reached in every conceivable way. He was hit by a pitch, he walked eight times, he had 10 hits in nine games. He was such a pest in a complimentary way, you couldn’t keep off the bases. 

I think pitching-wise Japan might have been even more impressive than they were offensively. Shota Morishita was like the guy going in, but between him and Shintaro Sakamoto and then Ryosuke Sueyoshi – who was the one who pitched on the Shogaku team. The amount of guys that you just look at and think like, ‘That could have been the ace, or that could have been the ace, or that could have been the ace.’

MLB: Frederich Cepeda Jr., son of the all-time great Cuban national team player and World Baseball Classic star. How was he? 

TM: He struggled. He finished 2-for-20. But you can definitely see some similarities between him and his father. He played center field for the majority of the time that he was out there defensively. He covers a lot of ground. He's athletic. He's rangy. The coolest thing was reading about how he and his dad got to play together in the National Series [Cuba’s home league] this year, which is really cool. I don’t know if he’s got the ceiling of his father, obviously few people do, but it was really neat to see him out there. 

Players from all around the world pose for a photo. Grady Emerson, No. 10, is among the group.

MLB: What’s next for you? 

TM: Next for me is the Triple-A national championship game on Saturday on MLB Network. I'll be with Jim Callis for that. Then after that, it's really just back to basketball and hockey for me and hopefully the Classic in March. 

The interesting thing to keep an eye on for baseball and international baseball, especially, is the World Baseball Classic roster, because now we're getting down to the point where players who are coming to the end of Minor League seasons or Major League seasons, are going to be making their decision. It used to be like, ‘Am I going to do this World Baseball Classic thing?’ And now it's like, ‘How can I be part of this World Baseball Classic thing?’ And that's really cool.

Jeremy Guthrie loves international baseball. He had dreams of playing around the world before his professional career finished and now he often spends time traveling and coaching around the globe. He’s been to Japan, he’s been to Spain, he’s been to fields in Bulgaria. 

Most recently, Guthrie joined up with Baseball Jobs Overseas -- a company which connects players with teams around the world -- to play the Italian and Czech national teams ahead of European Baseball Championships, which are currently underway. Here’s a short conversation I had with Guthrie when he had just returned from Milan for HRDX: Kansas City.

Interview has been edited and condensed. 

MLB: How did you get involved? 

Jeremy Guthrie: I got to speak with Jimmy Jensen [ed’s note: Story about Jensen playing all around the world is here] at the ABCA [American Baseball Coaches Association] this past January. He talked about some of the great events the Globetrotters are doing. I didn't know about the Globetrotters. I found out it's a team that they form with players that they've helped place in jobs all over the world, and they have a little postseason tournament. And of course, this year, being a WBC preparation year, the Czech Republic and Italy wanted to play some friendlies, and the Globetrotters were there. We gave them a good run and some good games, which is what those teams need. 

MLB: You started your trip in Milan and hosted a camp. What was the experience like? 

JG: This is my third time in Italy. I’ve now been to like five or six of their stadiums across the country. First and foremost, they’re in great condition. They’re big. Back in the old days, they used to really fill them up, not so much anymore. But we had at least 60 kids all from the Milan area. There’s so much talent. You’re always surprised that kids in these remote parts of the world play baseball at such a high level. It’s because of the great coaches who love the game, most of them being Italians by birth, and they’ve run into the game, they’ve played the game, and they’re passing it on to young kids. We had two former Major League players there, as well as a number of Minor League guys to help out in the camp. 

Jeremy Guthrie made a short video documenting his journey. Click image to view. 

MLB: You pitched against Italy and the Czech Republic. That means you got to see Francisco Cervelli, now the manager for Italy, and Eric Sogard playing for Czechia. What was it like to meet up with them on a field in Italy? 

JG: So, Francisco Cervelli’s first Major League hit came against me back in 2009 in Baltimore when he was with the Yankees. And then Sogard, I faced him in at least, I think, three games during my career. He got another hit this time, although I think it should have been [an out], but he put the good wood on it. 

MLB: Did Cervelli bring up his first hit? 

JG: No, I brought it up to him. He's so humble. Cervelli is trying to do all he can to build baseball back in Italy. It feels like there's some real opportunity there, but it's going to take a lot of work. He and his staff are really focused. 

MLB: As someone who loves and supports the international game. How important are events like this to you? 

JG: Whatever I can do, I'm happy to do it. I'm a small fish in a big pond of a lot of former Major League players. But I love international baseball. I love getting to know cultures and people, and anytime a former Major League player can be somewhere, talking baseball, rubbing shoulders with kids and coaches, I do it. 

The coaches sometimes get overlooked. The coaches need it as much as the players do to really feel validated and strengthened to be able to do all the work because they're doing the heavy lifting. I can show up for a day or even a week. That's nothing. These guys are there every single day, all year round, trying to help build interest in the game and then teach the kids skills that can help them be successful. I know Major League Baseball is invested in trying to do more to continue to build it, because the game is great. So just a matter of being present in these countries, letting them see it, and then, most importantly, letting them play the game and practice it.

ROUNDING THE GLOBE

• Robinson Canó reached 4,000 career hits around the world. Thanks to Adam Darowski for being on top of this and making sure we all saw the news. 
• Elizabeth Muratore spoke with new Great Britain manager Bradley Marcelino. He’s looking to have a bunch of “tough freaking dogs” at the WBC next year. The team is currently competing in the European Baseball Championship after finishing second in 2023. 
• It’s a big day: MLB Pipeline just released the top 50 international prospects for 2026. 
• Baseball in Egypt? Thanks to a “Field of Dreams”-esque voice and some help from former big leaguers, the sport is finding its home in Cairo.  
• Asher Wojciechowski isn't just coaching for Croatia: He's closing out games, too. 

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC PASSPORT

Very cool thing the Astros – whose home ballpark will be playing host to Pool B of the World Baseball Classic in the spring – did for their recent World Baseball Classic night. They put together a food passport where foods from each of the nations that will be playing in Houston can be found in Daikin Park. 

Check out Shawn Spradling’s post for more.

The World Baseball Classic food and drink passport from the Astros. Click image to view. 

Brandan Bidois extended his hitless streak to 18 innings. Click image to view video. 

It turns out Brandan Bidois can be hit. After facing 64 consecutive batters without giving up a hit – lasting a total of 18 innings – the Brisbane, Australia native finally gave up another hit on Sept. 14. That’s OK, though: He quickly induced a double play and didn’t give up another hit the rest of the season. 

For the year, the Pirates’ Bidois finished with an 8-0 record and 0.74 ERA in 61 IP. 

Prospect guru Jonathan Mayo wrote about Bidois in a recent mailbag. Here’s what he wrote: 

“Bidois, 24, goes right after hitters with a two-pitch mix: A fastball that sits 95-96 and touches more and a wipeout slider. The biggest difference for him this year has been his ability to throw strikes. He walked six per nine in 2023, five per nine last year after dealing with injuries in the early stages of his career. He doesn’t have pinpoint command, but he’s whittled that walk rate down to 4.1 per nine and has been finding the zone 64 percent of the time this season, an improved rate compared to the past. He has the chance to impact the big league bullpen next year and has the kind of confidence you want from a high-leverage reliever type.” 

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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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