Check out photos of your favorite Ripken Sr. League players and teams in action! Visit Brenda Dunham's Eye on the Ball Photography.
Four Ripken Sr. League Alumni Star in World Baseball Classic
Four former Cal Ripken Sr. League players are set to star on the international stage in this month’s World Baseball Classic. Matt Mervis (Thunderbolts 2016) will take the field for Israel and Justin Wylie (Big Train 2018) is set to represent Great Britain, while Yuchen Wang (Aces 2022) deals on the mound for China and Kuan-Wei Chen (Thunderbolts 2016) pitches for Taiwan.
Mervis, a graduate of Georgetown Prep in Rockville, put up a gaudy .411/.469/.643 slash line with nine extra base hits and 21 RBIs in 15 games for the Thunderbolts in 2016. After his torrid summer, he went on to star at Duke University for four years before signing with the Chicago Cubs in 2020. The slugging first baseman advanced all the way to Triple-A last season, hitting .309 with 36 homers in 137 games across three levels. MLB Pipeline ranks Mervis as the eighth best prospect in the Cubs’ organization, and he figures to factor into the action at Wrigley Field before too long.
Israel is set to open their WBC play against Nicaragua on Sunday, March 12 at 12 p.m. ET.
Wylie exploded for the league-champion Big Train in 2018, hitting .417 (a team record at the time) with seven homers, 12 doubles, and a 1.267 OPS. He spent three years at San Diego State before transferring to the University of Arizona where he flourished, slashing .342/.449/.634 in 46 games in 2019. He has spent the past two seasons in the independent Frontier League, hitting .298 with 35 home runs across 173 games with the New Jersey Jackals.
Great Britain opens WBC play against the United States on Saturday, March 11 at 9 p.m. ET.
Wang pitched for the league-champion Aces in 2022, striking out nine across eight appearances spanning 7.1 innings. So far he has appeared in two of China's three WBC games, tossing a combined two scoreless frames with one strikeout. He retired 2021 American League MVP Shohei Ohtani for the final out of the eighth inning in China's opener against Japan. China’s next game is against Korea on Monday, March 13 at 6 a.m. ET.
Chen made one appearance for the Thunderbolts in 2016, tallying one strikeout. He pitched 2.1 innings across two appearances for Chinese Taipei in the WBC.
Additionally, Mickey Shupin (Thunderbolts 2005) served as the World Baseball Classic's tournament director, and is MLB's Senior Director of Global Event Operations. Shupin played college ball at George Washington University, and in 2005 with the Thunderbolts hit .248 with 18 stolen bases in 37 games. Learn more about Shupin's involvement with the WBC on the Thunderbolts website.
Written by Chris Rogers. Photo of Matt Mervis by David B. Stinson.
