Speier, Jax additions bolster Team USA's relief corps

Team USA has put together a strong rotation thus far, but what about the bullpen?

On Wednesday, USA Baseball announced the additions of left-hander Gabe Speier of the Mariners and right-hander Griffin Jax of the Rays.

One of the most dominant lefties in the game, Speier is far more than a simple LOOGY option. While he held left-handed batters to a paltry .179/.214/.302 slash line with a remarkable 42/2 K/BB rate, righties didn’t fare much better: They slashed just .203/.267/.347.

Traded midseason to the Rays from the Twins, Jax recorded a 3.60 ERA in 23 games with Tampa Bay, fanning 27 over 20 innings. In 2024 with Minnesota, the righty produced a sterling 2.03 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 71 innings.

With World Baseball Classic pitch counts, there will be a little more mixing and matching between relievers and starters than you might otherwise expect. Still, dominant relief arms -- who can handle batters from both sides of the plate -- become all the more important.

Here is what Team USA looks like so far, with final rosters set to be released in early February:

C: Cal Raleigh, Will Smith
1B: Bryce Harper
2B: Brice Turang
SS: Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson
3B: Ernie Clement
OF: Byron Buxton, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Aaron Judge
DH: Kyle Schwarber
P: Clay Holmes, Griffin Jax, Nolan McLean, Joe Ryan, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Gabe Speier, Logan Webb