BURLINGTON, VT – The provisional rosters for the inaugural World Baseball Classic were announced this week and 10 former Vermont Expos players are sprinkled among the rosters of seven different countries, the Vermont Lake Monsters announced today.

15 of the 16 countries in the tournament announced a provisional roster of 60 players that will be cut down to 30 players for the World Baseball Classic March 3-20.

Michael Barrett ’95 is the only former Vermont player on the USA roster, while three former Expos (Jason Bay ’00, Shawn Hill ’01 and Jeremy Ware ’96) are on the initial roster for Canada.

Two former Vermont players (Danny Rombley ’00-01 and Vince Rooi ’00) are on the Netherlands roster, while one player each for Australia (Craig Lewis ’01), Italy (Valentino Pascucci ‘99), Panama (Jose Macias ’95) and Venezuela (Jorge Julio ’98).

Two other players with Vermont minor league history are also on provisional rosters. Ken Griffey Jr. (USA) and Omar Vizquel (Venezuela) both played for the Double-A Vermont Mariners in 1988.

For all 16 rosters, go to:

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/wbc/rosters.jsp

Australia: Craig Lewis ’01
Canada: Jason Bay ’00, Shawn Hill ’01 and Jeremy Ware ’96
Italy: Valentino Pascucci ’99
Netherlands: Danny Rombley ’00-01 and Vince Rooi ’00
Panama: Jose Macias ’95
United States: Michael Barrett ’95 and Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners ’88)
Venezuela: Jorge Julio ’98 and Omar Vizquel (Mariners ’88)

LAKE MONSTERS – 21 January 2006