A Look Back on St. Louis Cardinals Who Competed in 2023 World Baseball Classic

6 days ago 2

The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of a top-to-bottom rebuild and have traded away a good amount of their most established major league talent.

So far, the Cardinals re-tooled roster seems to have been noticed by international competitors.

So far, catcher Ivan Herrera has been the only St. Louis player confirmed to compete in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. He'll be suiting up for Team Panama.

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More Cardinals players could be confirmed to compete in the upcoming WBC, but the current status of international representation is still a far cry from the 2023 iteration of the tournament.

In the last edition of the international tournament, 19 St. Louis players represented the organization.

The Cardinals were one of the most well-represented teams in the 2023 WBC. Of the 19 players who competed, 13 had major league experience. There were multiple representatives for Team USA, Colombia, Great Britain, Panama and Mexico (per a 2023 article from MLB.com).

St. Louis players were present on the rosters of 11 of the 20 countries who competed in the 2023 WBC.

Here's a look back on all the players who competed in the 2023 WBC:

Genesis Cabrera (MLB; Dominican Republic)

Giovanny Gallegos (MLB; Mexico)

Miles Mikolas (MLB; USA)

Andre Pallante (MLB; Italy)

JoJo Romero (MLB; Mexico)

Adam Wainwright (MLB; USA)

Guillermo Zuniga (MLB; Colombia)

Joseph King (MiLB; Great Britain)

Wilfredo Pereira (MiLB; Panama)

Ivan Herrera (MLB; Panama)

Nolan Arenado (MLB; USA)

Tommy Edman (MLB; Korea)

Paul Goldschmidt (MLB; USA)

Noah Medlinger (MiLB; Israel)

Lars Nootbaar (MLB; Japan)

Tyler O'Neil (MLB; USA)

L.J. Jones (MiLB; Panama)

Matt Koperniak (MiLB; Great Britain)

Oscar Mercado (MiLB; Colombia)

Arenado, who's competed for Team USA in the 2017 and 2023 WBC, was invited to compete with Puerto Rico.
Notable major leaguers such as Cabrera, O'Neil, Edman, Goldschmidt, Mikolas, Zuniga and Wainwright are no longer with the organization. Wainwright retired from baseball after the 2023 season.
Other representatives in the 2023 WBC, Arenado, Nootbaar and Romero, have been linked to trade rumors this offseason.

A lot of the representatives of the team from the 2023 WBC are either free agents, retired or on the tail end of their careers, which can explain why St. Louis doesn't have as many players in the 2026 WBC.

The Cardinals' primary goal is to put together a competitive major league team for the foreseeable future. When St. Louis does put together another competitive major league team, there's a chance the team can have more representation in the 2029 edition of the international tournament.

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