CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball today named the final 18-man roster for the 2022 12U National Team. The announcement comes following the conclusion of 12U National Team Trials, which was held from June 27-July 1 at Thomas Brooks Park in Cary, North Carolina.
The 12U National Team will compete in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-12 Baseball World Cup, which is scheduled to take place from July 29-August 7 in Tainan, Taiwan. The U.S. has a world-best three world titles at the U-12 level, having won three-consecutive gold medals in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Team USA will open its World Cup schedule on Friday, July 29, against Czech Republic.
“After an extremely competitive trials process, we are excited to announce this year’s roster,” said 2022 12U National Team Manager RJ Farrell. “We saw an incredible amount of talent this week during trials, making the roster decisions challenging and difficult for our staff. We are confident that the team we have assembled will represent this country and organization well in our pursuit of a world championship in Taiwan.”
The roster was selected after five days of trials, which featured intrasquad games, Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) Performance Assessments, daily on-field workouts, and more. Players at trials participated in a four-game Red vs. Blue series, giving the coaching staff an opportunity to evaluate during in-game situations.
This year’s roster features 14 players who participated in the 2022 Futures Invitational in June and four athletes who played in the 2021 National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup last summer. Both identification events were held at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.
Additionally, the 2022 roster comprises players from nine different states. California leads all states with six representatives, while Texas follows with six players.
RJ Farrell returns to the dugout as manager of the 2022 12U National Team and will make his international managerial debut this summer. Farrell served as manager for the 2021 12U National Team and led the stars and stripes a 3-0 record in exhibition play, outscoring opponents 55-3 in the process. This will be Farrell’s fifth time serving on a 12U National Team coaching staff after he spent three summers as an assistant coach for Team USA from 2017-2019. Farrell helped guide the U.S. to gold medals at the 2017 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup and the 2018 COPABE U-12 Pan American Championships.
Farrell will be joined on staff by pitching coach Seth Kenny and assistant coaches Troy Gerlach and Tanner Vesely. Kenny will reprise his role as pitching coach in 2022 after making his national team coaching debut a summer ago, when his pitching staff posted a 1.29 ERA and struck out 33 batters in 21 innings pitched. Gerlach assumes the role of assistant coach on the 2022 staff, bringing with him a gold medal from the 2018 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup, where he was an assistant coach. Also serving as an assistant is four-time gold medalist Vesely for the second consecutive year. Vesely, who has been a member of six national team staffs, won the 2015 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup as manager and has been an assistant on three other gold-medal winning squads.
Team USA will travel to Stockton, California, for training before making the trip to Tainan, Taiwan, for the 2022 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup. The full 2022 12U National Team schedule can be found here.
For the most up-to-date information on the 12U National Team, follow @USABaseball and @USABaseball12U on Twitter.
2022 12U National Team Roster
(Name; Hometown)
- Colin Anderson; Evans, Ga.
- Ty Chambless; Bridge City, Texas
- Major Ciers; Conroe, Texas
- Anthony Frausto; New Braunfels, Texas
- Tristin Gaines; Waller, Texas
- Levi Kerr; Marvin, N.C.
- Jordan Leon; Northridge, Calif.
- Eli Martinez; Beaumont, Calif.
- Cristian Matos; Belleville, N.J.
- Dylan Mercado; Houston, Texas
- Mateo Mier; Sylmar, Calif.
- Trent O'Malley; Great Falls, Va.
- Alan Parker; Wake Forest, N.C.
- Anthony Ramon; Phoenix, Ariz.
- Jonah Saken; Brentwood, Tenn.
- James Stout III; Artesia, Calif.
- Hibiki Suzuki; Cypress, Calif.
- Maximus Villalva; El Cajon, Calif.
