In just the past two years, the nation’s top youth baseball players stood shoulder-to-shoulder on international soil, wearing red, white, and blue as part of the 2023 and 2024 12U National Team. They brought home gold medals, forever memories, and something invaluable – experience.

Now 16 players on the two squads are back, not as teammates this time, but as opponents at the 2025 13U National Team Championships in Cary, North Carolina. After winning gold with the 12U National Team in 2023 and 2024, these 16 standouts are suiting up with their club teams, bringing championship experience to one of the premier youth tournaments in the country.

But no matter the jersey, the foundation of what brought them to the National Training Complex remains the same.

“It feels good to be back here,” said Joshua Pierre, a 2024 12U standout now playing for the Scottsdale Dirtbags. “It feels like we're back at home – just with new guys.”

Pierre, along with Scottsdale Dirtbag teammates Clayton Ratliff and Carlo Rivero, helped power Team USA to a dominant run at the 2024 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier in Panama City. The trio started all seven games of the tournament. Pierre posted a perfect 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts and batted .478. Rivero matched that average and led the team with 14 RBIs, while Ratliff raked defensively with six strikeouts over five innings of work.

Their success was built at the 2024 11U Futures Invitational, one of USA Baseball’s elite identification events that lit their path to the 12U National Team. That early experience, they say, laid the floor for everything else to come.

Ratliff, who was identified at the 11U Futures Invitational and later earned his stars and stripes with the 12U National Team, credits the journey with growing his mindset.

“I feel much better and more confident,” Ratliff said. “Because I did my job and know that my team is looking to me for that.”

Now back in Cary, he’s one of many alumni stepping into bigger roles, not just as skilled players, but as leaders in the dugout. And that leadership isn’t something they take lightly.

For Rivero, it’s about bringing the same intensity and focus he wore on his sleeve as part of Team USA.

“I just have to keep bringing on the confidence and keep hitting well,” he said. “I try to always throw hard, and always appreciate my catcher.”

These values, carried from the red, white, and blue to their club teams, are already shining through in the early games at 13U Champs NC. And with many of these players now being looked to as key players, their poise under pressure could make all the difference.

While their gold medals hang back home, the mission this week is different. Compete, elevate, and win with their brothers at 13U Champs NC. However, one thing is certain: no matter the uniform, these 12U alumni know what it takes to win.

And once again, all eyes are on them in Cary.