Team USA features plenty of big league experience
USA Baseball named its 24-man roster for the Olympic Games in Tokyo on Friday, with 14 players taking major league experience into the six-team tournament.
The United States squad even has Winter Olympics experience with former short-track speed skater Eddy Alvarez named as an infielder. Alvarez, who participated in the 2014 Winter Games, played 12 games with the Miami Marlins last season and is currently a minor leaguer in the team’s system.
Four of the former major leaguers on Team USA have been All-Stars: pitchers Edwin Jackson, Scott Kazmir and David Robertson, as well as infielder Todd Frazier. Jackson and Robertson are former World Series champions. Jackson, currently a free agent, has pitched for a record 14 different teams over 17 MLB seasons, making his debut with the Dodgers in September 2003.
The U.S. team will be managed by Mike Scioscia, who played with the Dodgers for 13 seasons and managed the Angels for 19 years, including the 2002 world championship season. He was on two World Series winners with the Dodgers.
The roster, with current major-league organization, if applicable:
PITCHERS >> Jackson, Robertson, Kazmir (San Francisco Giants AA), Shane Baz (Tampa Bay Rays AAA), Anthony Carter (Saraperos de Saltillo), Brandon Dickson (St. Louis Cardinals AAA), Anthony Gose (Cleveland Indians AAA), Nick Martinez
Team USA member Edwin Jackson pitched his first three MLB seasons with the Dodgers and most recently with the Tigers.
(Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks), Scott McGough (Tokyo Yakult Swallows), Joe Ryan (Tampa Bay Rays AAA), Ryder Ryan (Texas Rangers AAA), and Simeon Woods-Richardson (Toronto Blue Jays AA)
CATCHERS >> Tim Federowicz (Dodgers AAA), Mark Kolozsvary (Cincinnati Reds AA)
INFIELDERS >> Frazier, Nick Allen (Oakland Athletics AA), Alvarez (Miami Marlins AAA), Triston Casas (Boston Red Sox AA), Jamie Westbrook (Milwaukee Brewers AAA)
OUTFIELDERS >> Tyler Austin (Yokohama DeNA Baybears), Eric Filia (Seattle Mariners AAA), Patrick Kivlehan (San Diego Padres AAA), and Bubba Starling
(Kansas City Royals AAA)
UTILITY >> Jack Lopez (Boston Red Sox AAA)
Baseball will be returning to the Olympics for the first time since 2008 at Beijing, China. The U.S. won gold at Sydney in 2000, under Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, and at Seoul when it was a demonstration sport in 1988. The team won bronze at Atlanta (1996) and Beijing.
Team USA will open the Tokyo Olympics on July 30 against Israel. Other participants are the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea and Mexico.
ROYALS’ PEREZ IN DERBY >> Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Pérez will join Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, Trey Mancini of the Baltimore
Orioles, Pete Alonso of the New York Mets and Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies in the All-Star Home Run Derby at Denver’s Coors Field on July 12.
Perez will be the fourth Royals player in the derby after Bo Jackson (1989), Danny Tartabull (1991) and Mike Moustakas (2017).
Perez, a seven-time AllStar, hit his 20th homer of the season Friday night. WHITE SOX DEMOTE MERCEDES >> The Chicago White Sox sent struggling slugger Yermin Mercedes down to Triple-A Charlotte.
The 28-year-old designated hitter was the American League Rookie of the Month in April with a .415 average, five homers and 16 RBIs in 22 games.
Mercedes slumped to a .221 average with two homers in 28 games in May, and batted just .159 with no home runs in 18 games during a June swoon.
IL MOVES >> Outfielder Clint Frazier was put on the 10day injured list by the New York Yankees with vertigo, three years after a concussion hampered him an entire season . ... The Philadelphia Phillies activated shortstop Didi Gregorius from the injured list. Gregorius was out almost two months with an elbow injury . ... The Washington Nationals placed infielder Jordy Mercer on the 10day IL with a strained right quad . ... The New York Mets activated outfielder Brandon Nimmo, right-hander Jeurys Familia and catcher Tomas Nido from the injured list and put left-hander David Peterson on the 10-day IL with right side soreness.