Three former ‘Cats on Team Canada, one on Great Britain

For Immediate Release

February, 10, 2023

Victoria, BC – When the World Baseball Classic begins on March 8th, four former HarbourCats, all pitchers, will be wearing their respective country’s team colors and hoping to do their part to lead their teams to success in the tournament.

Nick Pivetta, Cade Smith and Indigo Diaz were three of the 17 pitchers named to the 30-Man Team Canada roster on Thursday, while Chavez Fernander joins the pitching staff of Great Britain.

Pivetta of course is known for being the HarbourCats first ever signee and the first HarbourCats starter in the team’s inaugural season in 2013. He is now with the Boston Red Sox where he has been a key member of their starting rotation.

Diaz was with the HarbourCats in 2017 where he was an WCL All-Star selection and is now with the Yankees Triple A Scranton, while Smith was with the HarbourCats in the summer of 2019 and is now in the Cleveland system and has recently been invited to 2023 big-league spring training with the Guardians.

Fernander, from the Bahamas, played for the HarbourCats in 2017, was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2018 and played last season with the Tigers High A affiliate West Michigan Whitecaps.

Other notable pros on the Team Canada roster include Freddie Freeman (Dodgers), Bo Naylor (Guardians), and former Langley Blaze superstar Tyler O’Neil (Cardinals), as well as four others with HarbourCats connections – Blue Jays prospect Damiano Palmegiani who played for Port Angeles in 2019 and was slated to play for the HarbourCats in 2020, veteran minor-leaguer Evan Rutckyj, whose cousin Nick, played for the ‘Cats in 2013-2014 and pitchers Curtis Taylor – who was with the Kelowna Falcons in 2015 and pitched at RAP early in that year – and Trevor Brigden, who was with Kelowna in 2018. Great Britain’s Alex Webb is also another former Kelowna Falcon (2015).

The HarbourCats players noted above, as well as Palmegiani Taylor, Brigden and Webb, are part of 20 former West Coast League players who will be playing in this year’s Classic (full list follows below).

Team Canada and Great Britain are seated in Pool C of the tournament, which actually begins play on March 11th and they will face some tough competition, notably from Team USA, who feature the likes of Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Pete Alonso, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright to name a few. Other teams in the pool include Columbia and Mexico.

The 2023 World Baseball Classic, being played for the first time since 2017, has been expanded from 16 to 20 teams, split into four pools of five teams each. Every team will play the other teams in its pool once, with the top two teams from each pool at the end of this round advancing to an eight-team, single-elimination stage. This will culminate with the championship game on March 21.

Full list of former West Coast League Players in the 2023 World Baseball Classic

Canada

• Trevor Brigden, Kelowna Falcons (2018), RHP
• Indigo Diaz, Victoria HarbourCats (2016-2017), RHP
• Damiano Palmegiani, Port Angeles Lefties (2019), INF
• Nick Pivetta, Victoria HarbourCats (2013), RHP
• Cade Smith, Victoria HarbourCats (2016), RHP
• Curtis Taylor, Kelowna Falcons (2015), RHP

Columbia

• Rio Gomez, Bend Elks (2015), LHP

Czech Republic

• Eric Sogard, Bend Elks (2006), INF

Great Britain

• Chavez Fernander, Victoria HarbourCats (2017), RHP
• Ryan Long, Wenatchee AppleSox (2019), RHP
• Alex Webb, Kelowna Falcons (2015), RHP

Israel

• Jake Bird, Yakima Valley Pippins (2015), RHP
• Kyle Molnar, Walla Walla Sweets (2015), RHP
• Joey Wagman, Walla Walla Sweets (2010), RHP
• Zack Weiss, Wenatchee AppleSox (2010), RHP

Italy

• Sam Gaviglio, Corvallis Knights (2009), RHP
• Nicky Lopez, Bend Elks (2014), INF
• Dominic Miroglio, Walla Walla Sweets (2013), C

Mexico

• Jarren Duran, Walla Walla Sweets (2016), OF

Nicaragua

• Isaac Benard, Cowlitz Black Bears (2015), OF