With the 2026 World Baseball Classic set to begin in March, the preliminary roster for the Netherlands is here. Initial rosters are subject to change. Read on below for our team summary and breakdown of top players and prospects to know.<\/p>\n
Find all of our WBC coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Team Summary: Netherlands has twice finished fourth in the WBC (2013, 2017), though its most memorable moment may have come in 2009 when it twice upset the Dominican Republic despite fielding a team that included zero major leaguers. They\u2019ll be led by recent Hall of Fame inductee and Curacao native Andruw Jones, who will manage the club for the first time and also coach his son, Druw Jones<\/a>, who is on the roster.<\/p>\n Top Players: The team is led by a pair of Netherlands stalwarts: reliever Kenley Jansen<\/a> and shortstop Xander Bogaerts<\/a>. At 38 years old, Jansen is playing in his fifth World Baseball Classic and was on the 2009 roster. He inked a one-year, $11 million deal with the Tigers this offseason. Bogaerts still has solid bat-to-ball skills and hit .263 last year for the Padres, though his power has dipped significantly over the last two seasons. <\/p>\n They are joined by a pair of newcomers. Ceddanne Rafaela<\/a> should patrol center field, where he\u2019s one of baseball\u2019s best defensive outfielders, and Braves infielder Ozzie Albies<\/a> also makes his first appearance for Netherlands hoping to recapture his 33-homer form from 2023 after a pair of disappointing ensuing seasons. Jurickson Profar<\/a> is also in the outfield mix. <\/p>\n Best Prospects: Jones is certainly the most high-profile prospect on the roster. He was the No. 2 overall pick in 2022 and played in the 2024 Futures Game, though his development so far has been slow with lackluster power. He hit .255 with five homers over 123 games in High-A in 2025. The best prospect, though, is Pirates RHP Antwone Kelly<\/a>, who reshaped his body a season ago to emerge as one of the better pitching prospects in their system. He routinely touches 100 mph. He\u2019ll be joined by his brother, D-backs RHP Jaitoine Kelly<\/a>, who is a potential breakout prospect<\/a> to watch in 2026.<\/p>\n Pool D<\/p>\n Venezuela<\/p>\n Dominican Republic<\/p>\n Netherlands<\/p>\n Israel<\/p>\n Nicaragua<\/p>\n Dates\/Location: March 6-11, Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n Netherlands World Baseball Classic Roster<\/p>\n playerposbatsthrowsheightweightagemlb orgclubCornelia, JamdrickLHPLL6-0014020Estanista, JaydennRHPRR6-0318024PHIReading Fightin Phils (AAA)Floranus, WendellRHPRR6-0016030\u2013Fransen, ArijRHPRR6-0321524\u2013Huijer, LarsRHPRR6-0420532\u2013Jansen, KenleyRHPSR6-0526538DETDetroit TigersKelly, AntwoneRHPRR5-1018322PITPittsburgh PiratesKelly, JaitoineRHPRR6-0325718AZVisalia Rawhide (A) 9 \u2018t HOEN, Evert Jan Bench CoachKelly, KevinRHPRR6-0020035\u2013Martis, ShaironRHPRR6-0122538\u2013Mendez, EricRHPRR6-0017526\u2013Merite, RyjeteriLHPLL6-0315020CINACL Reds (RK.)Morales, JustinRHPRR6-0419021\u2013Oduber, ShawndrickRHPRR6-0017021LADOntario Tower Buzzers (A)Sulbaran, JcRHPRR6-0220536\u2013West, DerekRHPRR6-0525729\u2013Wilson, DylanRHPRR6-0016020SEAACL Mariners (RK.)Clementina, HendrikCRR6-0016528\u2013Tromp, ChadwickCRR5-0822130ATLGwinnett Stripers (AAA)Albies, Ozzie2BSR5-0816529ATLAtlanta BravesBogaerts, XanderSSRR6-0121233SDSan Diego PadresCroes, DaysonUTLLR5-1120526SFRichmond Flying Squirrels (AAA)Didder, Ray-PatrickUTLRR5-1118031\u2013Gregorius, Didi1BLR6-0121535\u2013Profar, Juremi3BRR6-0118530\u2013Rafaela, CeddanneUTLRR5-0815225BOSBoston Red SoxSchoop, SharlonSSRR6-0021038\u2013Selassa, DelanoUTLRR6-0118726\u2013Jones, DruwOFRR6-0418422AZHillsboro Hops (A+)Profar, JuricksonLFSR6-0018532ATLAtlanta Braves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2026 World Baseball Classic set to begin in March, the preliminary roster for the Netherlands is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2276],"tags":[10264,5,2291,4,1586],"class_list":{"0":"post-557472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-2026-world-baseball-classic","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116022698700001773","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557472","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=557472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}