With the American Olympic Qualifier and the final Olympic Qualifier coming up, there was some great news regarding the use of Minor League Players. MLB announced that top Minor Leaguers who are on the 40-man roster but are not on the 25-man roster will be allowed to participate in the OQs and the Olympics itself.
MLB, the MLBPA and the WBSC agreed on national federations having access to high-level prospects and MLB veterans who were optioned to Triple-A in the late stages of Spring Training.
According to MLB.com, the agreement will be in effect for the Americas qualifying tournament that will be held March 22-26 in Arizona, the intercontinental qualifier in early April in Taiwan, and the Tokyo Games themselves.
For all countries, this may be a major boost for their rosters. The country that will benefit the most will be the USA of course. But for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this will also be a great opportunity to reinforce its roster. Players like Ademar Rifaela, Chadwick Tromp, Zander Wiel, Juremi Profar and the Kieboom brothers may be called up by team manager Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen although it must be said that Spencer Kieboom is still recovering from an injury and is still out of a club. And Carter may be a fix for a right-side infield spot with the Washington Nationals.
The only question that remains for team Kingdom of the Netherlands is if those players want to join. At the time of the final Olympic Qualifier in Taiwan (if it still will be played there), they will be fighting for a spot in their MLB organizations. Of course, they want to start the season at the highest level possible.
Which players will be added to team Kingdom of the Netherlands can be read here soon.
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