Team USA managed to get a few of the absolute best pitchers in baseball to sign up for the World Baseball Classic. This is true across the star-studded roster, but it’s especially true in the pitching department. That has been a major weakness before, as Lance Lynn and Clayton Kershaw were the headliners.
Now, they have some of the best talent in the sport ready to go out and win gold. Ahead of the first games of the World Baseball Classic, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa addressed his impressive rotation.
Team USA sets rotation for World Baseball Classic
Team USA has both the reigning Cy Young winners from 2025 in the rotation, and it can honestly be a coin flip as to who should be the top starter. However, because of how the spring training rotations have gone and how each pitcher has ramped up, neither will start the first game.
Instead, manager Mark DeRosa has tabbed San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb as the game one starter. He will face Brazil in Group Play. Back-to-back AL Cy Young Tarik Skubal will follow suit against Britain, and reigning NL Cy Young Paul Skenes gets the third game against Mexico.
“Yeah, it’s set up,” DeRosa said of his chosen rotation. “There’s obviously guardrails for the tournament … pitch count-wise, but there’s also guardrails for guys having to throw on certain days to get ready for their team’s Opening Day.”
Nolan MacLean of the New York Mets is tapped for the fourth game, but he’s dealing with a sickness and has not yet joined the team. He remains with the Mets at their spring facility. “He’s down there right now, and we’ll kind of reassess that day to day,” DeRosa said.
For Skenes, this is a chance to honor the country he very nearly served. He was on the Air Force track before pivoting to LSU and then the MLB. “‘I want to do this for every serviceman and that protects our freedom,'” DeRosa recalled Skenes telling him. “At the end of the day, that’s all that needs to be said. There’s something very special about representing your country.”
The rotation will be backed by incredible depth, including Clayton Kershaw, Matt Boyd, Clay Holmes, Mason Miller, Michael Wacha, David Bednar, and Griffin Jax.
The lineup is equally as star-studded
Team USA does not have quite the level of award-winning star power in its lineup. They do have the reigning AL MVP and runner-up in Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh. Judge has won three of the last four MVPs, but Shohei Ohtani, the lone AL MVP during that run and the back-to-back NL MVP, is representing Japan.
Still, they have Judge, Raleigh, Gunnar Henderson, and Bobby Witt Jr. Witt Jr. was an MVP finalist in 2024, and Henderson finished fourth in the voting that year. They’re just a few members of an incredible roster full of talent.
“I wouldn’t even call it an all-star team,” Judge said. He was named captain by Mark DeRosa. “This team is a lot of great players, a lot of greatness in the room, and it’s cool to see us kind of jumping in on the first day already.”
The projected lineup is brimming with All-MLB talent:
- SS Bobby Witt Jr. (R)
- DH Kyle Schwarber (L)
- RF Aaron Judge (R)
- 1B Bryce Harper (L)
- C Cal Raleigh (S)
- LF Roman Anthony (L)
- 3B Alex Bregman (R)
- CF Pete Crow-Armstrong (L)
- 2B Brice Turang (L)
That still leaves Henderson, Byron Buxton, Ernie Clement, and Will Smith on the bench. There are, in both the rotation and lineup, future Hall of Famers at so many positions.
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