here<\/a>.<\/p>\nTeam Summary: It will be hard for Czechia (also known as the Czech Republic) to top its magical 2023 World Baseball Classic, but it can hope to equal it. Czechia made it into the previous tournament as the runner-up in one of the qualifiers. They then beat China 8-5 in their opener of the tournament. That was their only win, but it was a truly crucial one. Because China went winless, Czechia finished fourth and earned an automatic berth in this year\u2019s WBC.<\/p>\n
Czechia is the only team that does not have any MLB-affiliated players on its roster. The team is largely homegrown, with a few players playing in the U.S., primarily at junior colleges. Catcher Matou\u0161 Bubenik is a freshman on the D-I UNC Wilmington roster.<\/p>\n
Top Players: 2B Terrin Vavra is currently a free agent, but he did reach the majors for one game with the Orioles last year. He\u2019s played 68 games with Baltimore across three seasons, hitting .252\/.329\/.302. Outfielder Marek Chlup hit .333 with a double in the 2023 WBC. Catcher Martin Cervenka was a long-time MiLB catcher who reached Triple-A with the Orioles and Mets before heading to play in the Czech league. RHP Marek Minarik led the team with six strikeouts in the 2023 WBC, and he got the win in the game against China.<\/p>\n
Top Prospects: Bubenik, by his status as a D-I player, is the top prospect currently on the Czech team. Filip Kollmann, a 20-year-old righthander, is pitching at Arizona Western JC, while RHP Ondrej Vank, also 20 years old, is pitching at Northeastern (Okla.) JC. 3B Jan Popisil is hitting .400 in four games with D-II North Greenville (S.C.) this season.<\/p>\n
Pool C<\/p>\n
Japan<\/p>\n
Australia<\/p>\n
Korea<\/p>\n
Czechia<\/p>\n
Chinese Taipei<\/p>\n
Dates\/Location: March 5-10, Tokyo, Japan.<\/p>\n
Czechia World Baseball Classic Roster<\/p>\n
playerposbatsthrowsheightweightagemlb orgclubBarto, JeffLHPLL6-0018036T\u0159eb\u00ed\u010d Nuclears (CZE)\u010capka, FilipRHPLR6-0120527Draci Brno (CZE)Duffek, Tom\u00e1\u0161LHPRL6-0118836Eagles Praha (CZE)Ercoli, Luk\u00e1\u0161LHPRL6-0320129Kotl\u00e1\u0159ka Praha (CZE)Hlouch, Luk\u00e1\u0161RHPLR6-0421625T\u0159eb\u00ed\u010d Nuclears (CZE)Kollmann, FilipRHPLR6-0116320Arizona Western College (NJCAA)Kovala, MichalRHPLR5-1016322Chipola College (NJCAA)Mina\u0159\u00edk, MarekRHPRR6-0720832Sokol Hlubok\u00e1 (CZE)Nov\u00e1k, JanLHPRL6-0219032Kotl\u00e1\u0159ka Praha (CZE)Ondra, Tom\u00e1\u0161RHPLR6-0419829Draci Brno (CZE)Pady\u0161\u00e1k, DanielRHPLR6-0422525Oisix Niigata Albirex (JPN)Satoria, Ond\u0159ejRHPRR5-1015428Arrows Ostrava (CZE)Schneider, MartinRHPRR6-0218039Skokani Olomouc (CZE)Vank, Ond\u0159ejRHPRR6-0119220Northeastern Junior College (NJCAA)Ve\u010derka, BorisRHPRR6-0423022Hro\u0161i Brno (CZE)Bubenik, Matou\u0161CRR6-0220720UNC Wilmington (NCAA)\u010cervenka, MartinCRR6-0422533Kotl\u00e1\u0159ka Praha (CZE)Zelenka, MartinCRR6-0222525Tempo Praha (CZE)\u010cervinka, MartinINFRR6-0419328Draci Brno (CZE)Escala, WilliamUTLSR5-1118027Hro\u0161i Brno (CZE)Johnson, RyanUTLLL6-0022933Hro\u0161i Brno (CZE)Krej\u010di\u0159\u00edk, MarekUTLLR5-0916524T\u0159eb\u00ed\u010d Nuclears (CZE)Men\u0161\u00edk, VojtechINFRR6-0017527Hro\u0161i Brno (CZE)Mu\u017e\u00edk, Martin1BRR6-0020529Sokol Hlubok\u00e1 (CZE)Posp\u00ed\u0161il, JanINFLR6-0018522North Greenville University (NCAA)Prokop, MilanINFRR6-0019422Draci Brno (CZE)Vavra, Terrin2BLR6-001852855 \u010cERVENKA, Martin CChlup, MarekOFRR6-0324427Caliente de Durango (MEX)Prejda, MaxOFLR5-1115418Kotl\u00e1\u0159ka Praha (CZE)\u0160indelka, MichalOFRR5-1119820Chipola College (NJCAA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2026 World Baseball Classic set to begin in March, the preliminary roster for Czechia is here.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2290],"tags":[10264,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-557106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-2026-world-baseball-classic","9":"tag-baseball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116021531312407837","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}