The rosters for the 2026 edition of the World Baseball Classic have been revealed and as it turns out, Ronald Acuña Jr. won’t be the only Atlanta Braves representative at the WBC. In fact, Acuña won’t have to wait too long to see a few of his teammates turn into opponents during Pool D action in Miami, Florida.
The Netherlands will have three Braves players on their squad for the WBC. Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar and Chadwick Tromp will be representing Honkbal as part of the Dutch squad. Curaçao is part of the overall Kingdom of Netherlands, so that explains how they’re eligible to put on the Oranje crowns, as usual.
They’ll also be led by Andruw Jones in the dugout. This has already been an eventful offseason for Jones, as the Braves legend recently completed a ballot comeback by making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame despite starting with the lowest first-ballot votes of any player who eventually earned induction. So if you’re a Braves fan who may not have any particular rooting interest outside of your particular country of origin or the United States, this oughta be the team you root for during this year’s WBC.
As I mentioned earlier, Ronald Acuña Jr. won’t have to wait long to lock horns with his teammates. Venezuela is set to face off against the Netherlands at high noon on Friday, March 6. If you’re into the WBC then that’s definitely a game to circle on your calendar just based off of the Braves representation, alone.
In other news, Team USA will have a little bit of Braves flavor in the dugout as well. Former Braves star catcher Brian McCann and former Braves manager and coach Fredi Gonzalez will be on (former Braves player, himself) Mark DeRosa’s coaching staff for the American team at the WBC. Both McCann and Gonzalez are listed as “Assistant Managers” on the official roster page for Team USA, so there’s that.
Free agents Julio Teheran and Eddie Rosario will be playing for Colombia and Puerto Rico, respectively, so there’s another couple of guys to root for here in Braves Country. I don’t think anybody around here is going to forget what he did for the Braves during the 2021 Postseason, right? Also, Julio Teheran needs no introduction around here as well, as he spent plenty of time pitching productive innings for the Braves over the course of his career.
So if you’re counting the coaches involved in this thing, there are plenty of guys who are either currently with the Braves or have been heavily associated with the Braves in the past participating in this year’s World Baseball Classic. If we don’t see either Team USA, the Netherlands or Venezuela (or even Colombia or Puerto Rico) make a deep run then here’s hoping that the four Braves players involved all have a healthy tournament as well so that they can be ready to go for the regular season. Are y’all looking forward to this? Will you be rooting for Team USA or will you be pulling for another country? Let us know!
