USA Baseball 18U National Team manager Rob Cooper and his staff of more than 25 evaluators at the Tournament of Stars had a difficult job this week.

Hollywood script writers could never have provided a more dramatic or less predictable scenario. In March veteran catcher Ariel Pestano (by consensus likely the best backstop the island has ever produced) saw his glorious 14 year tenure (1999-2012) as starting national team receiver come to a rather inglorious end when he was overlooked for a slot on the Cuban World Baseball Classic roster.

Former Dominican Major League All Star Manny Ramirez is leaving the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). His team, the EDA Rhinos, confirmed in a press release on Tuesday that they have removed him from the roster and that he will leave Taiwan on June 21.

DURHAM, N.C. — USA Baseball announced on Thursday the names of the 18 players selected to represent the United States for the first time at the 12U level. The final roster includes athletes from eight different states.

Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis and starting pitcher Corey Kluber have been named the American League Co-Players of the Week for the period ending June 16th. This is the first weekly honor for both players as they become the third and fourth members of the Indians to be tabbed A.L. Player of the Week this season, joining teammates Ryan Raburn (period ending May 5th) and Justin Masterson (period ending May 19th). The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

The 39th edition of the Japan/USA Collegiate Championship will be held from July 6 to 12, 2013 in four venues across Japan. It’s a five-game series between two of the powerhouses of international baseball.

There have indeed been some rather memorable individual performances down through the years to spice Cuban National Series post-season play. Outfielder Alexei Bell (2007) once smacked two homers in a single inning for Santiago during one playoff session and the same Bell also registered the oddity of three base knocks in the same frame during another post-season fray.

2014 Opening Series Will Feature the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Historic Sydney Cricket Ground on March 22nd & 23rd, 2014

David Wright of the New York Mets and Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees have been named captains of the National League and American League squads for the 2013 Home Run Derby. Cano won the event in 2011 in Phoenix, while Wright will be participating for the first time since a memorable performance in 2006. The 2013 Home Run Derby will be held Monday, July 15 at Citi Field in New York, home of the New York Mets, and televised live on ESPN beginning at 8:00pm ET.

Sadaharu Oh, 73, President of the World Children’s Baseball Foundation and former Tokyo Yomiuri Giants great who slugged 868 carrier home runs, in announcing the 23rd WCBF in Fukui Prefecture from August 18 -26, reiterated the need for baseball/softball community to do everything they can for the next three months to reinstate the sports to 2020 Olympics and hoped that the event in Japan will serve to send out strong message to the world.