The 2026 World Baseball Classic officially kicked off earlier this week, and several Yankees are involved, most notably Aaron Judge. The Yankee captain is also captaining Team USA, while other Yankees around the tournament include Jazz Chihsolm Jr., Austin Wells, David Bednar, Paul Goldschmidt, Ryan Yarbrough, Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval, and Amed Rosario.
However, seeing the coaching staffs of the teams at the WBC is often an exercise in remembering some guys. The tournament often brings out some of the biggest
stars in their respective countries’ histories to take the reins and lead the current-day players, and that often also filters down to all of the coaching roles. With that in mind, let’s dig into the coaching staffs and remember the Yankees, great or not, who you may see in the background on your television in the coming weeks.
We’ll start off with Team USA, who has quite a number of former Yankees around the coaching staff. The most famous, and most beloved, of them is none other than Andy Pettitte. The Yankee hero will be the pitching coach for the U.S., a role he also filled at the last edition in 2023.
The team has two listed hitting coaches, one of which is ill-fated former Yankees’ interim hitting coach Sean Casey. The other is a former 2017 player in Matt Holliday. Also around will be Brian McCann, who is simply listed as “assistant coach,” but I assume he’ll be working with the catchers in some way. Another Yankee connection is that prospect George Lombard Jr.’s dad — George Sr., you could guess — is Team USA’s first base coach.
For Team Canada, mid-2000s relief workhorse Paul Quantrill will also serve as pitching coach, but former Yankee catcher Russell Martin will be manning the first base coaching box as well.
If you watched the opening game between Australia and Chinese Taipei earlier this week, you might have noticed a couple familiar, but slightly older, faces. The bullpen coaches for each respective team were former Yankees Graeme Lloyd and Chien-Ming Wang.
There are no former Yankees’ players on the Dominican Republic’s coaching staff, but Robinson Canó‘s dad, José, who famously was the pitcher for Robbie when he won the Home Run Derby in 2011, will be the DR’s bullpen coach.
Jazz will see some a familiar face in Team Great Britain’s dugout as current Yankee coach Tanner Swanson will serve as bench coach. Former Yankee hitting coach Dillon Lawson will also be their hitting coach.
Another team that will have a current Yankee coach is Israel, where bench coach Brad Ausmus will manage the WBC team.
Kevin Youkilis will be his bench coach, but the less said about his Yankee tenure, the better.
Team Italy’s roster probably won’t win the tournament, but it is probably my favorite, as seemingly any MLBer with an Italian last name could get on the team. The man who played a big role in putting together than team is none other than Francisco Cervelli, who is the manager, having previously played for the team in past editions.
He’s not even the only former Yankee catcher on the coaching staff either. None other than Jorge Posada is one of the team’s hitting coaches, while the hirsute Sal Fasano is the bullpen coach. To round things out, Dave Righetti is the pitching coach, and 1979 backstop Jerry is on the staff as well.
Yet another former Yankee who will manage their country is Andruw Jones. The soon-to-be Hall of Famer will skipper the Netherlands, including former Yankee player Didi Gregorius.
Obviously, the most interesting action in the WBC will be on the field. However, if you’re ever looking up at your tv wondering “Hey, is that…” it might be!
