The World Baseball Classic will feature world class ball players from all over the world and I wanted to take a dive into how many of these players played Division 1 baseball. Now I understand that a majority of Team USA’s players have played D1 before embarking on their professional journeys. I was curious, outside of those players, how many D1 players current/former are representing other countries.
Remember, the World Baseball Classic requires a “Proof of Heritage” for non-native players to play for other countries. Proof of Heritage does not literally mean ability to obtain citizenship, it more so means potentially eligible for citizenship. All countries have different rules on what requirements you need to become a citizen. The WBC does this to allow the best possible players in the world to represent all participating countries whether they are homegrown or Americans who have connections through their family lineage. Because of that, you will see numerous US born and raised players playing for other countries.
The numbers are pretty surprising considering the fact that USA isn’t even top 3!
With that being said, lets see what the D1 school breakdown looks like:
Here are the lists of all former D1 players by country.
The World Baseball Classic will feature world class ball players from all over the world and I wanted to take a dive into how many of these players played Division 1 baseball. Now I understand that a majority of Team USA’s players have played D1 before embarking on their professional journeys. I was curious, outside of those players, how many D1 players current/former are representing other countries.
Remember, the World Baseball Classic requires a “Proof of Heritage” for non-native players to play for other countries. Proof of Heritage does not literally mean ability to obtain citizenship, it more so means potentially eligible for citizenship. All countries have different rules on what requirements you need to become a citizen. The WBC does this to allow the best possible players in the world to represent all participating countries whether they are homegrown or Americans who have connections through their family lineage. Because of that, you will see numerous US born and raised players playing for other countries.
The numbers are pretty surprising considering the fact that USA isn’t even top 3!
With that being said, lets see what the D1 school breakdown looks like:
Here are the lists of all former D1 players by country.
