3 wild World Baseball Classic roster connections that'll blow Guardians fans’ minds

On Thursday, the countries participating in the World Baseball Classic officially unveiled their rosters for the upcoming tournament, which finally provided the baseball world with a firm look at which MLB players are competing for every country.

In total, there are nine players from the Guardians’ organization competing, which is as follows: 

Logan Allen (Panama)
Travis Bazzana (Australia)
Dylan DeLucia (Italy)
Stuart Fairchild (Chinese Taipei)
Matt Festa (Italy)
Dayan Frias (Colombia)
Bo Naylor (Canada)
Ryan Prager (Israel)
Matt Wilkinson (Canada)

And while that list includes a variety of players from up and down the Guardians system, Cleveland’s fingerprints are all over the classic in a variety of other ways as well. 

Here are three things that stand out the most. 

There are plenty of Cleveland Guardians connections throughout the World Baseball Classic

José Ramírez isn’t playing in the World Baseball Classic (for now) 

While it may seem odd to start the list with something about a player who isn’t playing in the WBC, Ramírez’s decision to not play for the Dominican Republic in the tournament has some pretty big ramifications.

Even though the DR has two stud third baseman to turn to in the form of Junior Caminero and Manny Machado, Ramírez would clearly be the top option at third base. 

While national baseball reporter Francys Romero reported that Ramírez could join the DR later in the tournament, his absence at the start of the tournament could loom large. 

There’s a precedent for Ramírez not competing in events like this, however.  Not only has Ramírez sat out every other WBC he’s been eligible to play in, but he also passed on the All-Star Game last year to prepare for the second half. 

Ramírez clearly has decided that the Guardians’ 2026 season is his priority regardless of whether he joins the team mid-tournament. 

There are plenty of former Guardians on the Dominican Republic’s roster…

But just because Ramírez isn’t on the Dominican Republic’s squad doesn’t mean that there aren’t any Guardians connections on it. 

In fact, there are three former Guardians on the team in the form of Caminero, Carlos Santana and Amed Rosario — all of whom hold different roles in Guardians history. 

While Camerino never played an inning for the Guardians, Cleveland’s decision to trade him still stands as one of the worst trades in recent team history. 

Rosario, on the other hand, was part of the Guardians’ return for Francisco Lindor and ended up being a serviceable player for the Guardians, even if his tenure didn’t go the way people expected. 

Santana’s inclusion on the list is a call back to the DR’s storied baseball history, as he was on the country’s Gold Medal winning team that ran the table in 2013. 

He was a recent commit to the DR this year, and recently signed a one-year deal with the Diamondbacks. The 40-year-old Santana likely won’t need to play a ton given the DR also has Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Austin Wells on their roster, but he’s a valuable veteran presence on the roster nonetheless. 

… and Chinese Taipei’s 

Although plenty of Guardians fans knew who Yu Chang was ahead of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he became a household name that year thanks to a tournament for the ages where he hit .438 with two home runs and eight RBI in four games. 

Now he’s back with a deeper Chinese Taipei team that features plenty of Guardians connections. Along with having Chang, Chinese Taipei’s roster also features former Guardians prospect Kungkuan Giljegiljaw behind the plate alongside minor league signee Stuart Fairchild, who will be in the outfield. 

Chinese Taipei was eliminated in 2023 via tiebreaker which meant they needed to qualify for the tournament again in 2026, which they were able to do thanks to another strong performance from Chang. 

Chinese Taipei will be in Group C this time around along with Australia, Japan, Team Czechia and South Korea. 

While they won’t stand in the United States’ way, Chinese Taipei’s games should be must-watch TV for Guardians fans.