Several veterans named to U.S. Olympic roster

The United States Olympic baseball team will have its full roster announced later today, though MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that several well-known big league names will be part of Team USA.

Right-handers Homer Bailey, Edwin Jackson, and David Robertson will be part of the pitching mix, as will left-hander Anthony Gose. Matt Kemp, Matt Wieters, and Todd Frazier are some of the veteran position players. Bailey, Kemp, and Wieters all played in the majors as recently as 2020 and didn’t sign with a new team this past offseason, while Frazier appeared in 13 games for the Pirates this season. On May 13 Frazier chose to become a free agent after Pittsburgh designated him for assignment.

Beyond these experienced names, some notable youngsters will also be on the team, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reported yesterday that Red Sox prospects Triston Casas and Jarren Duran are participating. Any player not on a current 40-man Major League roster was eligible for Team USA, though naturally a team like the Red Sox would have to agree to allow top minor leaguers like Casas and Duran to play.

Mike Scioscia will manage Team USA, and the team will take to the field on May 31-June 5 during a qualifying tournament in Florida. The Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Canada, Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela are the other seven teams involved, and the winner of the tournament will automatically qualify for the Olympics. The second- and third-place finishers will advance to a final qualifying tournament against Australia, Chinese Taipei, and the Netherlands on June 16-20 in Mexico, and the winner of that event will claim the sixth and final Olympic berth.

Japan, Mexico, Israel, and South Korea have already qualified for the baseball event at Olympic Games, which are scheduled to be held July 23-August 6 in Tokyo. Originally set to take place in 2020, the Olympics were postponed for a year due to the pandemic, and the Games are still set to get underway in July despite a worsening COVID-19 situation in Japan.