World No. 14 Czechia announced the final roster for an Asia tour ahead of the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS. Czechia will play No. 3 Chinese Taipei on November 2 and 3 at the Taipei Dome and No. 1 Japan on November 9 and 10 at the Vantelin Dome Nagoya before Japan and Chinese Taipei start their Premier12 campaigns on 13 November.
Ranked 15th at the end of the 2023, Czechia didn't qualify for the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS.
Manager Pavel Chadim selected 28 players:
PITCHERS (14) Jan Vasourek, Tomas Duffek, Jan Tomek, Ondrej Vank, Filip Capka, Michael Senay, Dan Padysak, Filip Kollman, David Krecek, Ondrej Sotoria, Jake Rabinowitz, Tomas Ondra, Lukas Hlouch, Lukas Ercoli.
CATCHERS (3) Matous Bubenik, Martin Zelenka, Martin Cervenka.
INFIELDERS (6) Willie Escala, Ben Morgan, Jakub Kubica, Martin Muzik, Milan Prokop, Vojtech Mensik.
OUTFIELDERS (4) Michal Sindelka, Arnost Dubovy, Matej Mensik, Marek Chlup.
UTILITY (1) Marek Krejcirik
Most players are active in the Czech ExtraLiga, while four compete in the United States and one in Japan. Escala plays for the Milwaukee Milkmen of the independent Americas Association. Senay, an 18-year-old prospect, committed to the University of Florida. Dan Padysak just graduated from the University of Georgia. Zelenka plays for the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Chlup recently signed for the Tokyo Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Chadim, Cervenka, Muzik and Chlup represented Czecha on Team Europe's Global Baseball Games 2024 roster.
"We are incredibly honored to be invited by two of the top three ranked teams in the world to participate in these games ahead of the biggest global baseball event of the year," commented Chadim during a press conference.
Chadim will count on the best possible position players except for World Baseball Classic alum and former MLB middle infielder Eric Sogard. He had to look for new faces among the pitchers.
"Two collegiate pitchers from the United States and one from Czechia weren't released from their universities," added the Czech manager. The unprecedented number of surgeries our pitchers underwent this year further complicated things. Seven potential national team candidates had surgery on their throwing arms within 2024."
