DURHAM, N.C. -- USA Baseball announced on Tuesday the coaching staff for the 15U National Team that will compete in the 2020 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-15 Baseball World Cup in Mexico. Jared Halpert will take the reins as manager in 2020 with Steve Butler, Adam Moseley and Jeff Sherman joining him on the staff as assistant coaches.
Halpert will serve as a national team manager for the first time in 2020 after making his national team debut as an assistant coach with the 2019 15U National Team that won gold at the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier. Formerly a coach at the 2018 15U National Team Trials and 14U National Team Development Program (NTDP), he also served on the USA Baseball task force at the National Team Championships and the National Team Identification Series (NTIS).
Honored to have ya, @Halp24 pic.twitter.com/S6VHaRxkMM
- USA Baseball 15U (@USABaseball15U) February 28, 2020
He is currently in his fifth season at the helm of the Harvard-Westlake School (Studio City, Calif.) baseball program, where, in 2019, he led the Wolverines to the finals of both the California Interscholastic Federation California Southern Section Championship and the USA Baseball National High School Invitational. Halpert will once again lead his Harvard-Westlake squad for a chance at a national championship as a participant in the 2020 NHSI. Prior to his time at as the head coach at Harvard-Westlake, he served four years as an assistant coach for the Wolverines after working as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Fresno State.
"We are excited to have Jared Halpert take over as manager of our 15U National Team while the team prepares to head to Mexico for the world championships," said Ashley Bratcher, USA Baseball's Senior Director of Baseball Operations. "Jared and this collection of experienced coaches have long contributed to our national team programs and now we are excited to see what they can accomplish with this team. After winning our first-ever U-15 Baseball World Cup in 2018, we are confident that Jared and his incredible staff will be eager and able to defend that title."
Butler will join Halpert's staff as an assistant coach this summer. This marks Butler's first national team assignment, but he is a veteran of USA Baseball since 2015, coaching at the 14U NTDP and 15U Trials, in addition to multiple events including the National Team Championships and the NTIS. He currently resides in Eagan, Minnesota, where he has been the head coach of the Eagan High School Wildcats since 2018.
Moseley, the pitching coach for the 2018 World Cup-champion team, will return in the same position for the 2020 squad. The Alabama native's USA Baseball coaching experience also includes stints at the 2017 14U NTDP and 15U Trials. Moseley is currently the head coach at Hoover High School (Hoover, Ala.), where he led the Buccaneers to an Alabama State Baseball Championship in 2017. Before taking the head coaching position at Hoover following the 2014 season, Moseley led his former high school, Grissom High School (Huntsville, Ala.), to the state quarterfinals in four of his final five seasons. Moseley has coached high school baseball for 13 seasons and has compiled an overall record of 390-218.
Sherman also earns his first national team coaching assignment as an assistant coach under Halpert. The Texas native is the current head coach of Marcus High School in his hometown of Flower Mound, Texas. Sherman has also coached at multiple USA Baseball events, including the National Team Championships and NTIS. In his playing days, Sherman was a two-time NAIA All-American at Missouri Baptist University.
The 15U National Team will be selected through a two-phase trial that will begin in August in Southern California. Phase 1 will feature 80 players identified from the 2019 13U Athlete Development Program (ADP), 2019 14U NTDP, 2019 13U and 14U NTIS, the 2020 National Team Championships and the 2020 13U/14U ADP. Thirty-four of those athletes will then be invited to Phase 2 before 20 players will be named to the final roster on August 7. The 2020 15U National Team will then train in Southern California from August 8-11 before competing in the 2020 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup from August 14-23 in Mexico.
Team USA will return to the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup as defending champions after winning the country's first-ever U-15 Baseball World Cup title in 2018.
For the most up-to-date information on the 15U National Team, be sure to follow @USABaseball15U and @USABaseball on Twitter.
