With very little fan fare, the 2008 Team USA Baseball was announced and as many people already speculated, there were a lot of names that played in the USA side of the XM Futures game. This year you will have a chance to see this potentially potent team in action, but only if you are willing to travel to the Triangle in North Carolina. They have 4 games in the area, one in Cary at the USA training complex and three at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. If you at all follow minor league ball you are probably very aware of the names on this list. If you aren’t then you should get to know them. These guys are going to be in the majors very soon and quite a few of them are going to make one hell of an impact. Here is the USA roster:
| # | Name | Pos | B/T | Ht. | Wt. | Class | School | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson, Brett | P | L/L | 6-4 | 215 | N/A | Midland, TX | ||
| Arrieta, Jake | P | R/R | 6-4 | 225 | Texas Christian U | Farmington, MO | ||
| Barden, Brian | IF | R/R | 5-11 | 185 | Oregon State | Templeton, CA | ||
| Brown, Matthew | IF | R/R | 6-0 | 200 | N/A | Bellevue, WA | ||
| Cahill, Trevor | P | R/R | 6-3 | 195 | N/A | Oceanside, CA | ||
| Donald, Jason | IF | R/R | 6-1 | 190 | Arizona | Fresno, CA | ||
| Espineli, Geno | P | L/L | 6-4 | 195 | Texas, TCU | Houston, TX | ||
| Fowler, Dexter | OF | S/R | 6-4 | 175 | N/A | Atlanta, GA | ||
| Gall, John | OF | R/R | 6-0 | 195 | Stanford | Stanford, CA | ||
| Hessman, Mike | IF | R/R | 6-5 | 215 | N/A | Fountain Valley, CA | ||
| Jepsen, Kevin | P | R/R | 6-3 | 215 | Anaheim, CA | |||
| Knight, Brandon | P | L/R | 6-0 | 195 | Ventura JC, CA | Oxnard, CA | ||
| Koplove, Mike | P | R/R | 6-0 | 160 | Delaware | Philadelphia, PA | ||
| LaPorta, Matt | OF | R/R | 6-2 | 210 | Florida | Port Charlotte, FL | ||
| Marson, Lou | C | R/R | 6-1 | 200 | Scottsdale, AZ | |||
| Neal, Blaine | P | L/R | 6-5 | 240 | N/A | Marlton, NJ | ||
| Rasmus, Colby | OF | L/L | 6-2 | 195 | N/A | Columbus, GA | ||
| Richard, Clayton | P | L/L | 6-5 | 240 | Michigan | Lafayette, IN | ||
| Stevens, Jeff | P | R/R | 6-2 | 205 | Loyola Marymount | Berkeley, CA | ||
| Strasburg, Stephen | P | R/R | 6-5 | 215 | San Diego State | San Diego, CA | ||
| Teagarden, Taylor | C | R/R | 6-1 | 200 | Texas | Dallas, TX | ||
| Tiffee, Terry | IF | S/R | 6-3 | 215 | Pratt CC, KS | North Little Rock, AR | ||
| Weathers, Casey | P | R/R | 6-1 | 200 | Vanderbilt | Elk Grove, CA |
There are so many top 100 prospects on this list it makes my eyes hurt. I definitely plan to be at a least two of the games, trying to get some autographs. What I would really like to do is try to get some interviews for the website. I am curious to know what you guys think about this list of players and what you think their chances are in medaling. Also let me know if you are going to any of the games, it would be fun to finally meet some of my readers and fellow bloggers.
The Oakland guy pictured is Josh Horton [shortstop] and not Trevor Cahill [pitcher]. Check the URL.
I was at the futures game over the weekend and the one US player that a friend of mine was able to get an auto from was Jake Arrieta. Since it was New York and Yankee stadium there weer a lot of auto-hounds and also lots of security pre-game.
I do have a posting with some observations about the futures Game @
http://phungo.blogspot.com/
good luck w/ team USA. Will look forward to hearing how things go.
team is allright but it would be better if it featured the MLB allstars like Derek Jeter and alex rodriguez