USA Baseball on Wednesday announced the roster for the 2024 12U National Team, and Carlo Rivero of Tucson made the final 18-player roster that will compete in the World Baseball Softball Confederation U-12 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier in Panama City, Panama, that starts Monday.
Clayton Ratliff, a right-handed pitcher from Casa Grande, was also selected to the team.
The roster was finalized following a two-part 12U National Team Extended Training Camp that was first held in June. Rivero and Ratliff were among 26 players selected to reconvene in a series of workouts, practices, and intrasquad scrimmages earlier this week in Houston for the Extended Training Camp.
“It was a blessing to be over there and to get invited from the 12U USA team,” Rivero, also a standout with the Sunnyside Little League team, said in early July after advancing to the extended training camp. “Hopefully, I can make it to the World Cup and beyond that.
“I felt happy because there were a lot of players who were really good. It shows all the hard work that me, my brother and my dad always put in.”
Rivero’s brother Francisco was a member of the 2019 Sunnyside Little League team that came a game away from reaching the Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pa. He has trained in the Dominican Republic and is now in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system.
Their father Francisco Sr. was the manager of the Sunnyside Little League team in 2019. He hails from Venezuela and was a farmhand in the Milwaukee Brewers organization as a right-handed pitcher.
The 2024 12U National Team will attempt to defend its 2023 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier gold medal that was won last spring in Aguascalientes, Mexico, sending the team to the 2023 WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup.
The team features players from eight different states with more than half of the squad hailing from California or Florida, as those states boast five representatives apiece. Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, and Texas are responsible for the other eight players named.
“We are excited to reveal the final 18-man roster after a great week of training in Houston,” said 12U National Team Program Director Cole Beeker in a press release. “This week saw fierce competition among the players, but they lived up to the challenge; the athletes were extremely competitive and brought the utmost intensity each and every day, making it difficult for our coaches to narrow down the field and finalize the group that will compete in Panama. We are confident this squad will continue to play excellent baseball, bring a gold medal back home with us, and send the USA Baseball 12U National Team to the 2025 World Cup in Taiwan.”
The team will play under first-time manager Bryan Madsen, who will be making his second appearance on a national team coaching staff. Assisting him is Roger Wright, who will make his second consecutive stint on the 12U National Team staff along with first-time Team USA coaches Wes Brooks and Josh Ellison.
Prior to taking the field in Panama City, Team USA will spend two more days in Houston to finish the training camp in preparation for World Cup Qualifier play. The U.S. will then travel to Panama and play Ecuador in the tournament opener on Monday at 11 a.m., Tucson time, at Estadio Nacional Rod Carew.
The full 2024 12U National Team schedule can be found here. Follow along with the action by following @USABaseball12U on Twitter/X and @USABaseball on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
2024 12U National Team Roster
(Name; Position; Hometown)
- Hudson Bills; LHP; Menifee, Calif.
- Christian Cicero; C/INF; Orange, Calif.
- Gianni Donati; OF; El Dorado Hills, Calif.
- Adam Gonzalez; INF/RHP; Canyon Country, Calif.
- Ben Hamlin; C/INF; Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
- Bronx Holbron; RHP/INF; Waianae, Hawaii
- Cooper Hutton; RHP/OF; Las Vegas, Nev.
- Miles Lockridge; INF/RHP; Belleville, Ill.
- Jack Mattingly; INF/RHP; Louisville, Ky.
- Daylon McCants; OF/LHP; Jacksonville, Fla.
- Ethan Palacios; OF/RHP; Buda, Texas
- Joshua Park; OF/RHP; La Mirada, Calif.
- Joshua Pierre; INF/OF; Parkland, Fla.
- Jayden Portes; INF/RHP; Fort Myers, Fla.
- Clayton Ratliff; RHP; Casa Grande, Ariz.
- Carlo Rivero; INF/RHP; Tucson, Ariz.
- Andres Rodriguez; INF; Cutler Bay, Fla.
- Carson Schoener; RHP/INF; Las Vegas, Nev.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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