The World Baseball Classic organization dropped a bombshell on us today, announcing that 20 players have committed to playing in the 2017 tournament. Teams have been slowly getting confirmations from their players over the past two months, but today’s announcement has teams starting to take shape. For the United States, it was catcher Buster Posey and outfielder Andrew McCutchen that joined the squad, two All-Stars that are sure to give the team a huge boost.
Buster Posey has been one of the faces of baseball for the past six years and will be representing his country for the first time when the tournament begins in March. Posey has racked up the accolades in his seven seasons in the majors, all with the San Francisco Giants. The catcher won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2010 and earned his first World Series ring in the process. 2011 was a wash for Posey after the now-famous collision with Scott Cousins fractured his fibula and tore ligaments in his ankle, causing him to miss the entire season.
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He proceeded to come back and casually put together the best season of his career in 2012 as if the injury never happened. At the end of the season, he brought home NL MVP honors, a Silver Slugger Award, the NL Hank Aaron Award, an All-Star selection, the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award, and another World Series ring to top it off. Not too bad for not playing in a major league game for over 11 months. He would add to his resume two more All-Star selections, a third World Series ring, and two more Silver Sluggers.
Before he became a star in the bigs, Buster was an absolute stud in college, playing for the Florida State Seminoles. He was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American as a shortstop before moving to the catcher position. He adapted to the catcher position with ease, being named an EA Sports All-American and a Baseball America All-American after his senior year.
Destined for a national team since college, Posey will finally get his chance when he begins play with Team USA on March 10th against Colombia. He joins Jonathan Lucroy at the catcher position, as well as Chris Archer, Max Scherzer, Marcus Stroman, Andrew Jones, Andrew McCutchen, and Nolan Arenado on the star-studded roster.