USA Baseball announced its 24-man roster for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and it includes three players with a connection to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“We are thrilled to announce our twenty-four newest Olympians,” USA Baseball executive director/CEO Paul Seiler said in a statement. “We have been looking forward to this moment since baseball returned to the Olympic Program.
“Our goal was to construct this team around a core of experienced, veteran baseball players with invaluable experience at the highest level and internationally, and we have done just that. We are confident we have pieced together a team of players that will represent the United States proudly on the world stage.”
Dodgers Minor Leaguer Tim Federowicz, who has been with Triple-A Oklahoma City this season, was one of the two catchers who made the Team USA roster. Federowicz spent parts of 2011-14 up with the Dodgers and returned to the organization on a Minor League deal this past offseason. Federowicz is hitting .192/.241/.328 in 163 Major League games over eight seasons.
He is joined on the USA roster by former Dodger pitchers Scott Kazmir, who signed a three-year deal in 2015 before being traded to the Atlanta Braves in 2017, and Edwin Jackson, who made his debut for the Dodgers as a 19-year old rookie in 2003 and stayed with them until he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2006.
The most notable player who did not make the roster is Matt Kemp, who went to training camp with Team USA. Kemp played for the Dodgers from 2006-2014 and then spent another season in L.A. in 2018. The 36-year-old has hit 287 home runs in his 15-year major league career while slashing .284/.337/.484.
Other former Dodgers who did not make the team were Logan Forsythe, Matthew Liberatore and Homer Bailey, who the Dodgers released immediately after acquiring in a trade.
This is the first time baseball will be a game at the Olympics since 2008. Team USA won a gold medal at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games as a demonstration sport and then at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The team also won two bronze medals at the Atlanta 1996 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
USA Baseball will open the Olympic Games against Israel on July 30.
USA Baseball roster
Pitchers: Shane Baz, Anthony Carter, Brandon Dickson, Anthony Gose, Edwin Jackson, Scott Kazmir, Nick Martinez, Scott McGough, David Robertson, Joe Ryan, Ryder Ryan, Simeon Woods-Richardson
Catchers: Tim Federowicz, Mark Kolozsvary
Infielders: Nick Allen, Eddy Alvarez, Triston Casas, Todd Frazier, Jamie Westbrook
Outfielders: Tyler Austin, Eric Filia, Patrick Kivlehan, Jack Lopez, Bubba Starling
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