SAKAI CITY, Japan - USA Baseball alumni Robert Hassell (2019) and Cody Schrier (2018) were named the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) International Baseball Players of the Year at the III WBSC Congress on November 22 in Sakai City, Japan.
The award recognizes the top baseball performer from all WBSC-sanctioned events in a given calendar year. The WBSC presents its individual awards every two years at its biennial Congress.
"It is a tremendous honor to have two of our national team athletes recognized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation for their individual performances while with USA Baseball," said USA Baseball Executive Director and CEO Paul Seiler. "To earn the title of international baseball player of the year is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement and it speaks volumes to the hard work and dedication they have committed to the game of baseball in their young careers. We congratulate them on this extraordinary accomplishment and are proud to call them alumni of our organization."
Hassell was named to the All-World Team following the 2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in South Korea and earned the award for most RBIs during the event. He led the 18U National Team in 10 offensive categories in 2019, including batting average (.514), hits (18), doubles (5), home runs (2), RBIs (14), total bases (31), slugging percentage (.886) and on-base percentage (.548), among others. Hassell was a mainstay in the U.S. lineup, starting all nine games of the World Cup in the outfield, and helped lead the red, white and blue to a silver medal.
Schrier was named the MVP of the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup in 2018 after leading Team USA to its first U-15 baseball world championship in program history. He finished the tournament earning two additional individual awards on top of his MVP honors, including the batting title and the award for most runs scored in the tournament. Schrier started all nine games at shortstop for the stars and stripes and finished with a .476 batting average and 17 runs scored. He also led the team with two home runs and four stolen bases.
Members of Team USA have now been awarded the last three International Baseball Player of the Year awards with Triston Casas (2017), Schrier and Hassell.
For more information on USA Baseball and its national team programs, visit USABaseball.com or follow @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.