CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball today named Ashley Bratcher General Manager of the 18U National Team program. She will manage all aspects of the 18U National Team program, including the 16U and 17U National Team Development Programs and the Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) League. Additionally, she will continue to oversee the Baseball Operations department.

The 18U National Team program is a stalwart on the international stage. Winners of eight world championships dating back to 1988, the 18U program has won 13 gold medals in its history, including eight consecutive from 2011-2018. Major League Baseball (MLB) MVPs Bryce Harper, Eric Hosmer, Clayton Kershaw, Freddie Freeman, Joe Mauer, Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey, and Alex Rodriguez have all represented the U.S. in this program, and 71 alumni have been selected in the first round of the MLB Draft since 2010.

"It is an exciting time for USA Baseball and that stems from naming Ashley Bratcher as the General Manager for our 18U National Team,” said USA Baseball Executive Director and CEO Paul Seiler. “Ashley is eminently qualified for this position. She is highly knowledgeable and very well respected within the game of baseball, and we are incredibly excited for her to take responsibility and ownership of this program. We know she will do a great job representing our 18U National Team and our nation on the international stage."

“I am extremely honored to be named the General Manager for the 18U National Team,” said Bratcher. “I have had a host of tremendous opportunities throughout my career at USA Baseball that have prepared me for this new role. I look forward to calling upon those experiences and the relationships I have cultivated over the past twelve years to sustain and build upon the successful history of the 18U program.”

The 2021 18U National Team will compete on its home soil for its ninth world championship this September. For the first time since 1995, the United States will host the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup. The event will take place September 10-19 in Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida.

Bratcher joined USA Baseball in 2009 as an operations intern and was promoted to the Director of Operations later in the same year. In that role, she ran baseball camps, managed all operational needs at the USA Baseball National Training Complex, and oversaw the Women’s National Team program. Bratcher was elevated to Director of National Team Development Programs and Women’s National Team in 2012 and was named Senior Director of Baseball Operations in 2015. For the past six years she supervised the 12U, 15U, and Women’s National Team programs, the 14U National Team Development Program (NTDP), the National Team Identification Series (NTIS), the National Team Championships, and the 13U/14U Athlete Development Program.

As the program director for the 15U National Team, Bratcher led the team to three consecutive gold medals from 2017-2019, including its first world championship in program history at the 2018 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup and back-to-back gold medals at the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup Qualifier in 2017 and 2019. She also led the Women’s National Team to a gold medal in the inaugural women’s baseball tournament at the Pan American Games in 2015 and a gold medal at the 2019 COPABE Women's Pan-American Championships.

Additionally, she currently serves on the Steering Committee for the newly acquired Appalachian League as part of the PDP and has been integral in its daily operation as USA Baseball prepares for its inaugural season.

Bratcher graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in exercise and sports science. While at UNC, she worked with the 21-time NCAA National Champion women's soccer program as both a team manager and camp administrator. Bratcher also completed the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau’s scout development program in 2017.