Strasburg lone collegian on Olympic baseball team
Saturday, July 19, 2008 10:19 PM PDT
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| FIle photo | Associated Press
This Feb. 18, 2007, handout provided by San Diego State University shows San Diego State baseball player Stephen Strasburg pitching against Southern California in San Diego. Strasburg, whose 23-strikeout performance on April 11 brought him national attention, was the lone college player picked Wednesday for the U.S. baseball team headed to the Beijing Olympics. |
JANIE McCAULEY
Associated Press Sports Writer
San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose 23-strikeout performance on April 11 brought him national attention, was the lone college player picked Wednesday for the U.S. baseball team headed to the Beijing Olympics.
Outfielder Matt LaPorta, traded by Milwaukee to Cleveland earlier this month in the CC Sabathia deal, also is on manager Davey Johnson’s squad of mostly minor leaguers. Team USA still has one player to be selected to round out the 24-man roster.
“We’ve got a great ballclub,” Johnson said. “It ain’t going to be no cake walk. We’ve got our work cut out for us. It’s going to be a great stepping stone for all the players.”
The team’s first game is against Korea on Aug. 13. Team USA, which won gold in Sydney in 2000, is back in the Olympics after missing out on a bid in 2004.
Eight major league organizations landed two players on the Olympic roster: Oakland pitchers Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill; St. Louis outfielder Colby Rasmus and infielder Brian Barden; Angels infielder Matthew Brown and pitcher Kevin Jepsen; Philadelphia infielder Jason Donald and catcher Louis Marson; Colorado outfielder Dexter Fowler and pitcher Casey Weathers; Detroit infielder Mike Hessman and pitcher Blaine Neal; Dodgers pitcher Mike Koplove and infielder Terry Tiffee; and LaPorta and pitcher Jeff Stevens of the Indians.
The other six players are Baltimore pitcher Jake Arrieta, San Francisco pitcher Geno Espineli, Florida outfielder John Gall, Mets pitcher Brandon Knight, White Sox pitcher Clayton Richard and Texas catcher Taylor Teagarden.
The U.S. team features 14 Triple-A players, seven Double-A players and Arrieta is the lone Class-A representative.
“We knew going in that we wanted a veteran club — a team of guys who have been battle-tested, so to speak,” Team USA general manager Bob Watson said.
Johnson, fresh off managing the U.S. squad that lost 3-0 to a World team in the Futures Game during All-Star festivities at Yankee Stadium, is ready to get to work — finally having a set roster.
Johnson, Watson and USA Baseball officials met for about seven hours after the Futures Game to discuss their roster.
Johnson will get to see his team together for the first time during preliminary workouts and preparation late this month in San Jose, Calif.
The manager likes the flexibility this roster provides. He has a couple of pitchers who could fit into the closer role — Knight and Stevens — and LaPorta can play both in the outfield or at first base and gives the U.S. team power in the middle of the batting order.
While LaPorta realizes this experience will only boost his chances of reaching the big leagues, he’s not approaching the Olympics that way.
Johnson was scouting Team USA in Panama in 2003 for the Netherlands and watched the loss to Mexico that cost the United States a bid. He will continue to bring that up to his players, too, as a reminder and to keep them focused on the task at hand.
In 2000, Tommy Lasorda managed the Americans to the gold medal. Milwaukee Brewers ace Ben Sheets was the winning pitcher in the gold medal game.
Baseball will come off the Olympic program for the 2012 games, though officials hope to be back come 2016.
Olympic baseball Roster |
Name Pos. League
Brett Anderson LHP Texas
Jake Arrieta RHP Carolina
Brian Barden INF PCL
Matthew Brown INF PCL
Trevor Cahill RHP Texas
Jason Donald INF EL
Geno Espineli LHP PCL
Dexter Fowler OF Texas
John Gall OF PCL
Mike Hessman INF IL
Kevin Jepsen RHP PCL
Brandon Knight RHP PCL
Mike Koplove RHP PCL
Matthew LaPorta OF EL
Louis Marson C El
Blaine Neal RHP IL
Colby Rasmus OF PCL
Clayton Richard LHP IL
Jeff Stevens RHP IL
Stephen Strasburg RHP San Diego St.
Taylor Teagarden C PCL
Terry Tiffee INF PCL
Casey Weathers RHP PCL
