New York Yankees Pitcher Joins Team USA for 2026 World Baseball Classic
The New York Yankees are seeing a lot of their team members head to play for their respective countries for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. This will make Spring Training a lot more intriguing for players on the fringe of making the roster to get opportunities, but the Yankees are adding a 14th player to participate in the tournament. Let’s take a closer look at who is heading from Tampa’s Spring Training site to the World Baseball Classic.
New York Yankees starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough is joining Team USA
The New York Yankees are going to be sending another player to the World Baseball Classic this year. MLB Network’s Joel Sherman is reporting that starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough will be added to the Team USA roster, as he is replacing Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan. Ryan is dealing with lower back inflammation, which has caused him be taken off the roster and in the pitcher pool, which makes him eligible after each round.
Yarbrough becomes the 14th player for the New York Yankees to be part of this year’s World Baseball Classic. Below is the list of players from the organization who also are competing in this tournament:
- Brendan Beck (Great Britain)
- David Bednar (United States)
- Jose Caballero (Panama)
- Jazz Chisholm Jr (Great Britain)
- Harrison Cohen (Isreael)
- Fernando Cruz (Puerto Rico)
- Yerry De Los Santos (Dominican Republic)
- Camilo Doval (Dominican Republic)
- Tim Hill (United States)
- Aaron Judge (United States)
- Elmer Rodriguez (Puerto Rico)
- Amed Rosario (Dominican Republic)
- Austin Wells (Dominican Republic)
Ryan is hoping to be back at some point during the World Baseball Classic, but that is not certain at this point. Yarbrough pitched in 19 games (eight starts) last season and was 3-1 with a 4.36 ERA and a .240 batting average against in 64.0 innings.
Yarbrough will be one of the many options to be a starting pitcher at some point for Team USA. However, they will be able to use starting pitchers for only a few innings each outing as they ramp up to the regular season. It will be intriguing to see if and when Team USA manager Mark DeRosa decides to do with his loaded pitching staff throughout the tournament.
