[caption id="attachment_118" align="alignleft" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-118" src="http://baseballbrazil.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/brzwin-300x168.jpg" alt="Brazil's 2013 WBCQR Win in Panama - Photo Credit: ign.com" width="300" height="168" /> Brazil's 2013 WBCQR Win in Panama - Photo Credit: ign.com[/caption]

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Welcome to your Brazil Baseball WBC Qualifiers Preview! Team Brazil, with Hall of Famer <strong>Barry Larkin</strong> back as manager, takes on Pakistan tomorrow at Noon U.S. ET in the first game of their WBC qualifying group round in Brooklyn, NY. Also in the group are Great Britain and Israel.

Although this team will not include the services of <strong>Paulo Orlando</strong> and <strong>Yan Gomes</strong>, it still goes deep in international and pro league experience.  There are quite a number of players on this roster that have U.S., Japanese and even Cuban major league and minor league reps. It is also quite an extreme collection of young and old, with widely diverse backgrounds.

The pitching staff is pretty well rounded except for this question: who’s the number 1 starter? The <strong>Andre Rienzo</strong> of a few years ago may have been the obvious answer, but now that Rienzo has been converted by the Marlins to a closer in Triple A, does he still go out and start for Brazil? Or do you start the NPB veteran <strong>Rafael Fernandes</strong> instead? A case could also be made for Diamondbacks farmhand <strong>Bo Takahashi,</strong> who has had a strong season in Single A in 2016, going 6-4, with a 2.81 ERA/1.18 WHIP in 17 starts. Takahashi may be all that Brazil needs against Pakistan. The better question may be who they have start against Israel.

Regardless what happens with the starting pitcher, Larkin will have lots of good options out of the bullpen. Returners such as <strong>Murilo Gouvea</strong>, <strong>Jean Tome</strong>, <strong>Hugo Kanabushi</strong>, Seattle farmhand <strong>Thyago Vieira</strong> and 41-year-old Cuban-born sensation <strong>Ernesto Noris</strong> were a big reason Brazil advanced out of the qualifying round in Panama four years ago. They’ll be joined by up and comers <strong>Edilson Batista</strong>, a lefty who’s currently in the Red Sox organization, and  barely 16-year-old <strong>Eric Pardinho</strong>, who could probably be the next pitcher signed out of Brazil. Also new to the WBC squad is <strong>Felipe Natel</strong>, who pitches with Yamaha of the Japanese Industrial League.

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Things get more interesting in the infield, where Brazil has included five American-born players of Brazilian descent on its roster, including the sons of former Major leaguer <strong>Dante Bichette</strong>, Bo and Dante Jr.

<strong>Bo Bichette</strong>, drafted out of high school in the 2<sup>nd</sup> round this year by Toronto, played short stop with the Blue Jays Rookie Gulf Coast League team this season, hitting .427 BA/1.182 OPS, with 9 doubles, 2 triples, 4 home runs and 36 RBI in 22 games. <strong>Dante Bichette Jr.</strong>, a 2<sup>nd</sup> round pick in 2011, is a 1<sup>st </sup>baseman in the Yankees organization, and hit .243 with 9 home runs and 49 RBI in 114 games with Double A Trenton this season.

The other set of American-born players who share are brothers Tim and Christian Lopes. <strong>Christian Lopes</strong> is a former 7<sup>th</sup> round draft pick and 5-year minor league veteran who’s currently in the Blue Jays system and played 2<sup>nd</sup> base for the Double A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, where in 108 games he hit .285 with 56 runs scored, 30 double, 3 home runs and 46 RBI. Former 6<sup>th</sup> round draft pick <strong>Tim Lopes</strong>, also a 2<sup>nd</sup> baseman, plays for the Double A Arkansas Travelers in the Mariners Organization. He hit .284, scored 74 runs and stole 22 bases in 131 games in 2016.

To round out the <em>Gringo</em> contingent, Miami-born <strong>Carlos Garmendia</strong> is a middle infielder who played college ball at Stetson University and Rollins College, most recently in 2015.

The returning veterans from the previous WBC squad include <strong>Leonardo Reginatto</strong>, who split time between AA and AAA in the Twins organization this season, and finished off with a combined .265 batting average over 132 games while playing both SS and 3<sup>rd</sup> base. Former Phillies farmhand middle infielder <strong>Lucas Rojo</strong> is back for his second WBC campaign, as well as long time Brazil national team and Japanese baseball veteran DH/1B <strong>Reinaldo Sato</strong>.

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It gets even more interesting in the outfield, which features Cuban baseball league veteran <strong>Irait Chirino</strong>, who hit .304 in 9 seasons in the Cuban National Series until he left the island a few years ago. Chirino played for two of the more famous CNS teams, Industriales and Metropolitanos. Now he’ll probably be starting against Pakistan for Team Brazil tomorrow.

Also in the outfield mix is <strong>Juan Carlos Muniz,</strong> who is 40 years old and has played in Cuba, the U.S., Japan and Brazil. <strong>Fernando Luciano</strong> of the Rakuten Eagles of the NPB and <strong>Gabriel Maciel</strong>, who signed with the Diamondbacks earlier this year, are on the WBC roster as well.

Believe it or not, there is actually another player on the roster even older than Noris and Muniz. That would be fellow Cuban, catcher <strong>Angel Luis Cobas,</strong> who was born in 1969. Not sure how much time behind the plate Cobas will get, but he is joined by <strong>Luis Camargo</strong>, who played this season with Rimini of the Italian Baseball League, and Dodgers prospect <strong>Luiz Paz</strong>, who played in 46 games for Ogden of the Rookie Pioneer League this season and hit .269 BA/.847 OPS with 6 home runs and 37 RBI.

While none of the teams in the Brooklyn Qualifying Round group are from traditional baseball countries (if anything Brazil has the most in-country tradition, albeit confined for nearly a century to one small niche community), Israel is vastly made up of American-born players of Jewish heritage and definitely possesses the most pro experience of any of the rosters. Having former MLB players like Jason Marquis, Ike Davis, Craig Breslow and Cody Decker, along with a slew of other current double and triple A level players, probably makes Israel the favorite to win the group. Also, you have to imagine it will be a fairly pro-Israel crowd in Brooklyn. Nevertheless, Brazil was able to pull out a surprise upset against heavy favorite host Panama in the last WBC qualifying round; they ended up beating the home team twice to move on.  Anything can happen in a cutthroat double elimination format.

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