The team is broken down into nine position players and eight pitchers to go along with three two-way players. The team was chosen after a week of trials including six intersquad games and a week of training at College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas.
Also making the cut were three high school teammates from Gulliver Prep High School in Miami. Pitcher Ivan Pelaez joins catcher Chris Chinea and utility man Adrian Marin on the team, all three of whom will be juniors for the Raiders this upcoming season.
Joining Chinea in the catching rotation will be Nelson Rodriguez and Chris Okey. Rodriguez, a native of New York city, attends the same high school (George Washington) that produced Hall of Fame infielder Rod Carew and White Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez.
In the infield, Corey Seager and Alex Bregman make up the middle infield positions. Also in the mix will be Marin, who can play at second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield position as well as Timmy Lopes who can play both middle infield positions and third base. Lopes' brother, Christian, played on the 2008 16U Team and the 2010 18U Team. Zach Green plays the infield and the outfield, seeing time at multiple positions during the trials week.
Along with Almora in the outfield will be two-way players Cole Billingsley and Carson Kelly, who will also see time on the mound joining first baseman/right-hander Matt Olson as the players who can pitch and play the field.
Joining those four on the pitching staff will be right-handers Mark Brakeman, Ryan Burr, Felipe Perez, Lucas Sims and Nick Travieso. They will also have the services of left-handers Sean Brady, Troy Conyers and Pelaez.
Florida leads the way with eight players on the roster, while four players hail from California. Georgia has a pair of players on the team while Alabama, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, New York and North Carolina have one apeice.
The team will continue training in Texas until Thursday, at which time they will leave for Lagos De Moreno, Mexico where they will participate in the 2010 COPABE "AA" Youth Pan-Am Championship against countries from all over Central and South America. The tournament begins on October 8, with the gold medal game set to take place on October 17.
Eric Kibler will be the manager, a year after winning gold with the 2009 16U National Team as an assistant coach. Joining Kibler on the staff will be assistant coaches Charlie Spivey, Rob Shabansky and Chad Allen.
