Manny Acta, who is managing the Dominican “dream team” to the World Baseball Classic announced that a mini-camp will take place at the end of January once the roster of the Dominican team is announced. Rules establish that a maximum 60-man roster for each nation must be submitted by 17 January, and at that point, all players will begin to be drug tested under the auspices of Olympic-type penalties – two years of banishment from international play for a first offense. The actual 30-man roster must be finalized 24 hours prior to the start of the tournament.
Acta, who is third base coach for the New York Mets, said that the mini-camp could be held at the Quisqueya ball park in Santo Domingo or in Boca Chica. “We chose that date because many of the players will be almost ready to travel back to the US for spring training. Our goal is to get the players together, even those that live abroad,” Acta told El Caribe in an interview. The idea is to get all of the players together for five days in the same place. Stanley Javier, who is in charge of the Dominican team, had announced earlier that while the Dominican team would be one of some of the brightest stars in US Major League Baseball, the challenge was to get them to play together.
The landmark tournament brings together teams from Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Chinese Taipei, the United States and Venezuela.