USA Baseball Premier12™ Manager Joe Girardi finalized the coaching staff for the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12™, the organization announced on Tuesday. Joining Girardi on the staff will be Scott Brosius (Bench Coach), Roly de Armas (Bullpen Coach), Phil Plantier (Hitting Coach), Bryan Price (Pitching Coach), Willie Randolph (Third Base Coach) and Ernie Young (First Base Coach).
The 2019 coaching staff is laden with international experience. Collectively, the staff boasts 21 years of playing and coaching experience with Team USA, winning seven gold medals. Additionally, Brosius and Randolph have previously been recognized by USA Baseball as its Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year, presented annually to the coach who expects excellence out of their players and strives for them to better themselves on and off the field.
The 2019 Premier12™ kick-starts the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games qualifying process for Team USA, who will also look to win its first-ever gold medal at the global baseball tournament after winning a silver medal in the inaugural event in 2015.
"I am pleased to introduce a tremendously talented group of coaches as our national team staff for the 2019 WBSC Premier12," said Girardi. "Each and every one of these coaches' reputations is first-class. They bring a foundation of knowledge to this staff that is unparalleled in its depth and experience, both domestically and internationally. More important than their individual successes, this is a collection of truly exemplary people who have dedicated their lives to the game of baseball and I am confident they will represent this team and our country proudly."
Brosius was named the USA Baseball Senior Director of Baseball Development earlier this year and will add another title as the bench coach for the 2019 squad. He is no stranger to coaching internationally after he served as the manager of the USA Baseball 18U National Team in both 2011 and 2012, where he managed Team USA to gold medals in both seasons, a world championship title and a combined 16-2 overall record. He was recognized as the 2011 and 2012 USA Baseball Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year, joining Davey Johnson (2005, 2006, 2007) as the only two national team managers to earn multiple Coach of the Year honors from USA Baseball.
Drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 1987 Amateur Draft, Brosius spent 11 years in the Major Leagues with the A's and the New York Yankees. Brosius was a part of three consecutive World Series championship teams with the Yankees from 1998-2000 and earned MVP honors in the 1998 World Series where he hit .471 with six RBIs and two home runs.
Returning as an assistant coach for the 10th time, de Armas will once again serve as the bullpen coach for Team USA this fall. His first experience with Team USA came in 2006 as an assistant coach for the Olympic Qualifying Team that finished its tournament with a 6-1 overall record and secured Team USA a spot in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. de Armas would return as a coach with USA Baseball again in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015, winning two World Cup gold medals (2007, 2009), two Pan-American Games silver medals (2011, 2015), one Premier12™ silver medal (2015) and an Olympic bronze medal (2008).
de Armas also spent time as a coach in the Major Leagues with the Chicago White Sox (1995-96) and Toronto Blue Jays (2000). In total, he has spent 31 seasons as a coach for several Major League Baseball organizations, including the Philadelphia Phillies, where he is currently the manager of the Gulf Coast League Phillies.
The current Scranton/Wilkes-Barr RailRiders hitting coach, Plantier, joins the USA Baseball national team staff in the same role for the first time in his career in 2019. Following a playing career that spanned eight seasons, he began his coaching career as a manager for the former Macon Music in 2007 and then spent the following four seasons as a hitting coach and manager in the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres Minor League systems. Plantier was later named the hitting coach for the Padres in 2012 and served in that position for three seasons.
Price will also make his international coaching debut with USA Baseball this fall as the pitching coach for the 2019 Premier12 Team. His Major Leauge coaching career began in 2001 when he was named the pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners and would later be named the USA Today Baseball Weekly's Pitching Coach of the Year after leading the pitching staff to a 3.54 cumulative ERA. Price stayed in Seattle for six seasons before stops with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2007-2009) and Cincinnati Reds (2010-2013). In 2013, he was named the 61st manager in Reds history and managed the club in five Major League seasons from 2014-2018.
Manning the third base coach's box, Randolph returns to the Team USA coaching staff for the fourth time in his career and the first time since helping lead the U.S. to its first-ever gold medal at the World Baseball Classic in 2017. After first serving as an assistant coach in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he was named the manager for the inaugural Premier12 tournament in 2015 and led the red, white and blue to a silver medal and earned USA Baseball Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year honors. Randolph is a baseball veteran with 18 years of playing experience and 16 years of coaching and managerial experience. A six-time All-Star, he won back-to-back World Series titles as a second baseman in 1977 and 1978 for the New York Yankees and managed the New York Mets to a National League East division title in 2006.
Olympic gold medalist Young has been named the first base coach for the 2019 Premier12 Team following an accomplished playing, coaching and professional career with Team USA spanning the last 20 years. A member of the gold medal-winning Sydney 2000 Olympic Games team, he also played on the Professional National Team again in 2003 before joining the USA Baseball Board of Directors. Young also served as a hitting coach for three national teams and managed the 2010 and 2011 Professional National Teams. While on a Team USA coaching staff, the red, white and blue amassed an overall record of 43-11-2 and won a world championship in 2009.
Team USA will open the 2019 WBSC Premier12™ against the Netherlands on Saturday, November 2, at 12 p.m. (CT) at Estadio de Beisbol Charros de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico. The U.S. will then face Mexico and the Dominican Republic on Sunday, November 3 (7 p.m. CT) and Monday, November 4 (7 p.m. CT), respectively.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the six-team Super Round in Japan, which will be hosted by Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) at Chiba's ZOZO Marine Stadium and the Tokyo Dome.
The top finisher from both the Americas territory and Asia/Oceania territory (excluding Japan) will automatically qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, joining host-country Japan in the six-team Olympic tournament.
Team USA won a silver medal in the inaugural WBSC Premier12™ in 2015, finishing with a 5-3 overall record.
For more information on USA Baseball and the 2019 Premier12™ Team, follow @USABaseball on social media or visit USABaseball.com.