After the official 30-man World Baseball Classic rosters were announced last week, there was just one question left ahead of the tournament’s opening on March 4: Who would be listed in the Designated Pitcher Pools (DPP)?
The way the DPP works is that each federation can place up to six pitchers on the list as potential arms to call up after the initial round. Teams can replace up to four pitchers following the first round and then up to two pitchers after the quarterfinal. These players can replace one of up to four arms that the team had previously marked as a potential substitute.
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These are far from back-of-the-rotation options, either. Ace starters like the Dominican Republic’s Luis Castillo, Venezuela’s Jesús Luzardo and longtime Puerto Rico national team veteran José Berríos are among the names in the Designated Pitcher Pool. New Astros starter Tatsuya Imai, who opted to spend Spring Training with Houston instead of prepping for the World Baseball Classic, is also an option for Team Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata to call up for the national team should Japan advance to Miami.
In addition, Australia reliever Liam Hendriks and Puerto Rico righty Alexis Díaz – the younger brother of their current closer, Edwin Díaz – also make the list. Veteran international pitchers like Matteo Bocchi (Italy) or brothers Connor and Scott Prins (Netherlands) could be called up.
Oh, and there’s one player that Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto can’t trade: That would be his son, Jonah Dipoto, who is on the DPP for Italy.
Here is the full list:
Australia
RHP Cameron Gibbens
LHP Kailen Hamson
RHP Liam Hendriks
LHP Lewis Thorpe
RHP Kai-Noa Wynyard
Brazil
RHP Caio De Araujo
RHP Joao Gabriel Marostica
RHP Vitor Takahashi
RHP Heitor Tokar
RHP Marcelo Young
Colombia
RHP Sean Linan
RHP Julio Vivas
RHP Ezequiel Zabaleta
Cuba
RHP Armando Duenas
RHP Yunieski García
RHP Yusniel Padron-Artiles
LHP Dario Sarduy
LHP Francis Texido
RHP Yoennis Yera
Dominican Republic
RHP Luis Castillo
RHP Yerry De Los Santos
RHP Yaramil Hiraldo
RHP Juan Mejia
RHP Joel Peguero
RHP Yohan Ramírez
Great Britain
RHP Wes Burton
RHP Jharel Cotton
RHP Jacob Esch
RHP Justin Friedman
RHP Andre Scrubb
RHP Alex Webb
Italy
RHP Matteo Bocchi
RHP Jonah Dipoto
LHP Joe Jacques
RHP Camden Minacci
RHP Claudio Scotti
RHP Mattia Sireus
Japan
RHP Shoma Fujihira
RHP Tatsuya Imai
LHP Yumeto Kanemaru
LHP Shinnosuke Ogasawara
RHP Kazuki Sugiyama
LHP Chihiro Sumida
Korea
LHP Chan Seung Bae
RHP Taek Yeon Kim
RHP Dong Ju Moon
RHP Yong Chan You
Mexico
RHP Valente Bellozo
LHP Omar Cruz
RHP Nestor German
RHP Victor Lizarraga
RHP Irvin Machuca
RHP Alan Rangel
Netherlands
LHP Brandon Herbold
LHP Ryan Huntington
RHP Koen Postelmans
RHP Connor Prins
RHP Scott Prins
RHP Michael Vilchez
Nicaragua
LHP Leo Crawford
RHP Stanling Orozco
RHP Rodney Theophile
LHP Pedro Torres
Panama
RHP Enrique Burgos
RHP Steven Fuentes
RHP Severino González
RHP Alberto Guerrero
RHP Kevin Miranda
RHP Abdiel Saldaña
Puerto Rico
LHP Jonathan Bermúdez
RHP José Berríos
RHP Alexis Díaz
United States
LHP Tim Hill
RHP Jeff Hoffman
RHP Tyler Rogers
LHP Matt Strahm
RHP Will Vest
Venezuela
LHP Jose Alvarez
RHP Luinder Ávila
LHP Jhonathan Díaz
LHP Jesús Luzardo
RHP Eduardo Salazar
LHP Christian Suarez