Eight New York Yankees in World Baseball Classic

The provisional World Baseball Classic Rosters have been announced. There are eight Yankees, including Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, and five other players.

Jeter will play for team USA and Arod and Cano will play for the Dominican Republic.

The other players include possible fifth starter candidate Alfredo Aceves (Mex), Melky Cabrera (DOM), Damaso Marte (DOM), Edwar Ramirez (DOM), Jose Veras (DOM).

There are also a few minor leaguers in the system who have made their way into the tournament. They are catching prospect Francisco Cervelli (ITA), Kai Liu (CHN), former Staten Island Yankee Jahdiel Santamaria (PAN), Jorge Vazquez (MEX) and Zhenwang Zhang (CHN).

These are provisional rosters so it is possible that when the final rosters come out a few of these players may get cut. Players not on the provisional roster cannot be added.

The final rosters will be announced on Feb. 28.

A note on one of the minor leaguers, I’ve had a bit of experience watching Santamaria when he played for the Staten Island Yankees last season. In 124 at-bats last season, he hit .250/.314/.347.

He’s not a real prospect, but it was interesting to watch him play everyday. He showed some athletism in the field at times, but a few times he looked lost. His bat came around a bit by the end of the season.

He could have gotten more playing time, but Brian Baisley got the bulk of the time at first base. Even though he’s not much of a prospect either they were in a playoff hunt and he was raking. Baisley that is.

Bernie Williams was also on Puerto Rico’s provisional roster. The unemployed Bobby Abreu has also been named to Venezuela’s team. Sidney Ponson was named as a member of the Netherland’s roster. One name that was missing was Jorge Posada.