Recently, I listened to a podcast show. 2-time All-Star Chris Perez was interviewed and I was thinking of a team that he pitched before, 2007 Team USA, a team that won the 2007 IBAF Baseball World Cup title.
If you browse the USA Baseball website, you will find that the professional national team won gold medals four times. The first gold medal was the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the team USA was led by Tommy Larsoda. Two gold medals in the IBAF Baseball World Cup, one was in 2007 and the other in 2009. The most recent one was that Team USA won the 2017 World Baseball Classic title. So, it’s one of four gold medals and there’s something more, it was USA’s first win in the baseball world cup in which Cuba played.
I watched the 2007 Team USA when they played in Taiwan and I was truly impressed how good they were. After the tournament, I keep following some players and would like to see whether they become superstars in baseball.
When reading the roster, you definitely read some familiar names. And after nearly 14 years, who is still playing in the big league?
Spring training will start on time, so players are going to report soon. I carefully check the 40-man roster of each team. Well, so far, only Evan Longoria is on the 40-man roster. Longoria will enter his 14th season in the big league. He spent 10 years in Tampa Bay, playing more than 1400 games with the Rays. At the end of 2017, he was traded to the Giants and, in 2021, Longoria will play for the Giants for the 4th season. After winning the 2007 IBAF Baseball World Cup with the team USA, Longoria made it into the big league with the Rays and the Rays won the first AL pennant in 2008. Also, he won the 2008 AL Rookie of the Year award and was selected to the All-Star game three times from 2008 to 2010. So far in Longoria’s career, he slashed .266/334/.473 with an .807 OPS, blasted more than 300 home runs and collected more than 1000 RBI. Evan Longoria is the only one on the 40-man roster. However, left-handed pitcher Jerry Blevins recently signed a Minor League deal with the New York Mets and was invited to the spring training. If he can do a good job in the spring training, he will surely have a chance to make it to the 40-man roster or even the opening day roster. Blevins didn’t pitch in 2020, but so far in his career, he already tossed 495.1 innings and earned 30 wins.
Playing professional baseball is not easy. After nearly 14 years, we might only see two players, who played for Team USA in the 2007 Baseball World Cup, in the MLB this year. Team USA beat Cuba in the 2007 IBAF Baseball World Cup final. Back then, there were also some familiar names on the roster of Team Cuba. Two players are still playing the MLB. One is the hitter named Yulieski Gurriel, who batted .275/.341/.525 in the 2007 Baseball World Cup, and now he plays for the Houston Astros, known as Yuli Gurriel. The other guy is Aroldis Chapman, who’s a 6-time All-Star and is going to enter his 12 seasons in the MLB.
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