FORT MYERS, Fla. — Eleven players from the 40-man roster of the Red Sox were officially named to represent their respective countries in the World Baseball Classic. The announcement came Thursday night.
As expected, righthanded reliever Garrett Whitlock will play for the United States. It will be his first WBC.
Venezuela has three Red Sox players — outfielder Wilyer Abreu, first baseman Willson Contreras, and left hander Ranger Suárez.
“This was something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Abreu, who was a Gold Glove right fielder last season and hit 22 home runs.
Ceddanne Rafaela will play for the Netherlands, joining former Red Sox All-Stars Xander Bogaerts and Kenley Jansen on that roster.
Brayan Bello accepted an invitation to play for the Dominican Republic and manager Albert Pujols. Masataka Yoshida was a recent addition to Japan’s roster.
Jarren Duran returned to Mexico’s roster, but now as a starting outfielder after being a backup in 2023. Righthanded reliever Greg Weissert is with Italy and lefthanded reliever Jovani Morán is playing for Puerto Rico.
Utility player Nate Eaton will play for Great Britain in what would be his first WBC. Great Britain also has 26-year-old righthander Jack Anderson, a Red Sox prospect who finished last season with Triple A Worcester. Sox assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson is the team’s hitting coach.
The 20-team tournament starts March 4 with the championship game scheduled for March 17 in Miami.
There are a number of other former Red Sox in the tournament, Brennan Bernardino (Mexico), Alex Bregman (United States), Eduardo Rodriguez (Venezuela), Kyle Schwarber (United States), and Christan Vazquez (Puerto Rico) among them.
Kevin Youkilis is a coach with Israel.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.