As we sit mere days away from pitchers and catchers reporting for duty at their respective complexes in Arizona and Florida, much of the world is focused on international competition.
The Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are in full swing, with fans across the world rooting for athletes representing their home towns, their countries, or even their favorite professional sports teams. The Colorado Avalanche have eight Olympians for the 2026 games, including captain Gabriel Landeskog wearing the “C”
for his Team Sweden.
However, in the shadow of the Winter Games lies another rapidly approaching international competition: the World Baseball Classic.
The competition—which takes place every three years—grants an uncommon opportunity for professional baseball players worldwide to represent their home country or country of heritage on the world stage. Many of the teams from dominant baseball countries like the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela are packed with a veritable who’s who of Major League Baseball stardom and familiar faces from both the regular season and the playoffs.
For fans of the Colorado Rockies—who have not been to the post-season since 2018 and are beginning a crucial rebuild—the opportunity to see players from their team on a big stage are often few and far between. Even in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, the Rockies had just five players in the tournament and only one of them—left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland—remains with the team.
This year the Rockies are fairly well represented in the World Baseball Classic. While they have no players on Team USA, the Rockies are sending ten players and one coach to represent six different nations in the upcoming tournament.
Let’s begin the Parade of Nations!
Team Canada
Recent arrival and infielder Edouard Julien will be representing Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic for the second time in his career. Although Canada was eliminated in pool play during the 2023 tournament, the Quebec City native still ended up leading the World Baseball Classic in slugging percentage and OPS. He then turned that excellent performance into a strong rookie season in which he hit .263/.381/.459 with 16 home runs and was worth 2.6 wins above replacement.
Julien suffered down seasons in 2024 and 2025 and enters the season looking to recapture the magic of his rookie campaign. Hopefully former Rockies All-Star and Team Canada hitting coach Justin Morneau can help Julien start the season strong.
Joining Julien on the Canadian roster is left-handed Québécois pitcher Antoine Jean, in what will technically be the first professional games of his career. The Rockies selected Jean in the seventh round of last year’s draft from the University of Houston, where he was the 2025 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and led all NCAA Division I pitchers in batting average against (.168) and had the second-best K/9 (14.8).
Team Israel
The player to watch for Rockies fans when it comes to Team Israel is without a doubt prospect outfielder Cole Carrigg (no. 6 mid-season PuRP).
Carrigg—also a non-roster invite to spring training this year—spent the entire 2025 season with the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, where he hit .237/.316/.394 with 18 doubles, six triples, 15 home runs, and 46 stolen bases as the team’s starting center fielder. Although he won’t be big league ready to start the season, a strong tournament could do a lot to lift his stock as a prospect.
Joining Carrigg is first baseman and outfielder Troy Johnston, whom the Rockies claimed via waivers from the Miami Marlins during the off-season. The 28-year-old made his Major League debut in 2025 with a strong .277/.331/.420 line and four home runs over 44 games with the Marlins.
Team Italy
The Rockies’ most important off-season free agent acquisition is also their lone representative for the Italian national team. Right-handed pitcher Michael Lorenzen was brought in to help the Rockies finally figure out pitching at Coors Field, a challenge he was eager to accept.
The 34-year-old’s aggressive approach and extensive arsenal of pitches will be a key asset to the Rockies’ rotation in 2025 as the team begins to work on their new pitching philosophy. One of his teammates for Italy will be former Rockies closer Adam Ottavino, who had previously performed well at Coors Field and was rumored to be in contention for a front office job over the off-season.
Team Mexico
Mexico was one of the breakout stories in the 2023 tournament, placing third overall after losing an incredible game against Japan in the semifinals. Returning manager Benji Gil is currently riding high after his México Rojo (Charros de Jalisco) emerged as the victor of the Serie Del Caribe and is no doubt ready to take another crack at the World Baseball Classic.
Gil’s bench coach will once again be Rockies special assistant and legendary third baseman Vinny Castilla. The Blake Street Bomber has extensive experience playing and coaching for various Mexican teams, including acting as the manager for Team Mexico in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
Pitching for Mexico by way of California will be right-handed reliever Victor Vodnik and left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino.
Vodnik, a bullpen staple, is entering his fourth big league season after an excellent 2025 campaign during which he posted a 3.02 ERA over 52 appearances. He notched ten saves and tallied 49 strikeouts over 50 2/3 innings of work.
Bernardino, meanwhile, is another new arrival to the Rockies. Obtained from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for minor league outfielder Braiden Ward, the 34-year-old middle reliever has a career 3.47 ERA over parts of four big league seasons.
Team Puerto Rico
The delegation from Puerto Rico had some difficulties putting their roster together, often due to insurance issues with their star players. As such, Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros and Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets are both sitting out, much to their consternation.
For off-season free agent acquisition and utility player Willi Castro, however, it represents an opportunity. The 28-year-old from Río Piedras will represent Puerto Rico for the first time in his career. The Rockies brought in Castro on a two-year, $12.8 million contract. The 2024 All-Star had a down year in 2025—especially after he was traded from the Minnesota Twins to the Chicago Cubs—but a strong performance in the World Baseball Classic could help him start a rebound campaign on the right foot.
Team Venezuela
A healthy and productive tournament would likely mean a lot to young Rockies star shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. The 24-year-old performed well enough during the 2025 season, hitting .253/.294/.400 with 18 doubles, four triples, and nine home runs, but he missed significant time due to injury and appeared in just 95 games.
Tovar is a key building block for the Rockies’ future, and entering the 2026 season strong with some much-needed momentum could help propel him to new heights after he won a Gold Glove Award and even had an MVP vote in 2024. Hopefully that comes with cutting down on strikeouts and not chasing so many pitches down and away.
Joining Tovar on Team Venezuela is right-handed pitcher Antonio Senzatela, who I’m sure is banking on the World Baseball Classic to kick off a much-needed bounceback campaign as he enters the final guaranteed year of his current contract.
Senzatela struggled immensely in 2025, posting a 7.42 ERA from the rotation in 23 starts before he was relegated to the bullpen. He fared especially poorly in the first inning, where he held a staggering 11.03 ERA. He performed better in limited bullpen appearances with a 2.86 ERA over 22 innings and is likely to remain in the bullpen for the upcoming season.
It is also worth noting that former Rockies starting pitcher Germán Márquez will also be on Venezuela’s roster. Márquez is currently still a free agent and could look to leverage his tournament performance into a contract.
The pool play portion of the World Baseball Classic kicks off on March 4th and the tournament itself runs through March 17th. There will also be multiple exhibition matches in which MLB spring training squads will face off against national teams. The Rockies are scheduled to play Team USA on March 4th at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick with a first pitch time of 1:10 PM MT.
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