After we introduced European champion Spain to you last week, it is now Team USA’s turn. The Americans come to Haarlem this edition with a slightly younger team than the previous edition. Get acquainted with the stars of the day after tomorrow.
Two years ago, we were spoiled with a rock-solid American selection. Standouts of that batch were pitcher Paul Skenes and fielders Dylan Crews and Wyatt Langford. Like their teammates Jacob Wilson and Rhett Lowder, they disappeared from the draft board very early during the 2023 MLB Draft. Langford, meanwhile, has debuted with reigning champion Texas Rangers. So less than two years after his appearance at Baseball Week, he is already considered good enough for the very highest level.
JUNIOR COLLEGE
The chances that the Americans we will see at work at Pim Mulier Stadium next summer will also make that move so soon seem slim. Indeed, this year Team USA is sending not the Collegiate National Team, but the National Junior College Team. Junior college is often an intermediate step toward a college team for young players just out of high school. So this year’s U.S. selection will be slightly younger than in 2022.
The last time a junior college delegation participated in Baseball Week was in 2010. Of that selection, only Anthony Bemboom would eventually make it to the Major League; he played for the Rays, Angels and Orioles between 2019 and 2023. He is currently in the Minor League with the Detroit Tigers. However, there are plenty of other MLB players with a history at a junior college. Think Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman and Don Sutton, Mets icon Howard ‘HoJo’ Johnson and the man with one of the most infamous bat flips of all time, José Bautista. Two-time All-Star and current Miami Marlin Tim Anderson even made the move directly from a junior college to a professional club when he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox.
BRYCE HARPER
The same was true of Bryce Harper. The two-time MVP chose to play one season for a junior college. Indeed, at age 17, he left his high school in Las Vegas to transfer to the College of Southern Nevada team, where he hit a whopping 31 home runs in 66 games; a number that nearly tripled the old home run record of 12. After being named the best amateur player in the country, he was selected first overall by the Washington Nationals in the 2010 draft.
So although the U.S. team in 2024 will be a bit younger than it was during the last edition of Baseball Week, and the chances of having a player of Bryce Harper’s caliber among them are slim, we can expect a talented Team USA. They may not be the stars of tomorrow, but possibly the stars of the day after tomorrow.