The World Baseball Classic Qualifier that will take place at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium at the Kino Sports Complex from March 2nd through 6th, 2025 has several must see players on the rosters of the four countries represented.
Starting with Team Brazil, you will see the sons of two former big leaguers with Dante Bichette Jr and Lucas Ramirez, who is the son of Manny Ramirez. Blue Jays prospect Eric Pardinho was 2-1 with an ERA of 5.34 last season in Triple A.
The Chinese pitching staff will be led by Red Sox prospect, Jeremy Wu-Yelland. At the plate Team China will get some pop from Samuel Benjamin, who hit over .300 and 26 homeruns for Houston Christian University the past two seasons.
Team Columbia’s roster is probably the most complete and has the most major league experience. They feature Jorge Alfaro, Gio Urshela and Julio Teheran just to name a few. Alfaro has bounced around MLB teams recently but has a .253 career batting average and 198 RBI in his 8-year career. Urshela, who will play the 2025 season with the Athletics has a career .316 average with 332 RBI in his 9-year MLB career. Teheran was the NL Rookie of the Year and 2-time All-Star with the Atlanta Braves and has won 81 games in his 13-year MLB career.
The German roster may not wow you with MLB names but there are a few names that you should keep an eye on. On the top of that list is Jaden Agassi, yes that Agassi. Jaden is the son of tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. The 6’3 Agassi spent 3 seasons at USC before heading to the MLB pre-draft league this summer where he struck out 28 hitters in 27.1 innings pitched. RHP Nick Wittgren has tallied 300 strikeouts in his MLB career. He most recently pitched for the Kansas City Royals in 2023.
Tickets start at just $19 dollars and are available for purchase now at worldbaseballclassic.com.
