The defending champion Dominican Republic has reportedly collated a preliminary 50-man roster for next spring's World Baseball Classic, and it's a star-studded one.
Robinson Canó, Edwin Encarnacion, Welington Castillo, Carlos Martínez, Dellin Betances, Nelson Cruz, Starling Marte are among those reportedly included in this list. Adrián Beltré, Manny Machado, José Reyes, Gregory Polanco and Jeurys Familia are among other players whose names general manager Moises Alou will submit to MLB by Thursday. Machado, Betances and Marte had already publicly indicated a desire to play for the Dominican Republic in the WBC. Also, Dominican manager Tony Pena -- who managed the Dominican to its first WBC title in 2013 -- has reportedly indicated to Gary Sánchez that he will be on the team.
• 2017 World Baseball Classic
This early list gives a rough gauge of who might make the cut for the club's provisional 28-man roster, which is due in mid-January. Final rosters must be submitted in mid-February. The WBC is the only international tournament in which players on MLB 25-man rosters can compete.
Alou, who played for the Dominican in the first two WBCs before retiring after the 2009 event, will reportedly meet with Pena on Tuesday face to face to discuss personnel further, according to the website vicbaez.com.
The Dominican will open the WBC as part of Group C, which will play its pool games in Miami in a group that also includes the United States, Canada and Colombia.