We already knew that Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh will be representing the United States at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and now we know that Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith be on the roster as well.

Team USA manager Mark DeRosa made the announcement on Tuesday morning at the winter meetings in Orlando, Fla. Also announced were Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Schwarber and Brice Turang.

As of now Team USA's roster stands as follows:

C: Raleigh, Smith

1B:

2B: Turang

SS: Bobby Witt Jr., Henderson

3B:

OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Corbin Carroll, Aaron Judge

DH: Schwarber

P: Paul Skenes, Garrett Whitlock, Matthew Boyd

About Smith

Now 30 years old, Smith has been one of the best catchers in baseball since his debut in 2019. A lifetime .264 hitter, he's got 128 career home runs and 442 RBIs. He helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 2020, 2024 and 2025 and is a three-time All-Star. He was also on the Team USA roster in 2023 when the Americans finished second to Team Japan.

How his presence impacts Raleigh

Well, on the positive side, Raleigh will not have to play every single inning behind the plate. Smith is a proven player who has caught in three World Series and has played in the WBC. DeRosa will have clear trust in him and Raleigh will get an opportunity to rest his legs, as he would in a typical spring training with the Mariners.

On the down side? Raleigh will not necessarily get the kind of at-bats that he would through a typical spring. With Team USA expected to play deep in the tournament, Raleigh will be away from the M's for three weeks or so. If he's splitting time with Smith for those three weeks, will he be ready when Opening Day comes around for the M's? Will he have both his right-handed and left-handed swings ready to go?

For what it's worth, we talked about the World Baseball Classic situation with Buster Olney of ESPN on last week's Refuse to Lose. This was before Smith was announced on the roster.

And ​there ​are ​players, ​and ​I, ​I ​think ​Cal ​and ​Julio (Rodriguez) ​are ​two ​players ​who ​are ​not ​affected ​by ​this, ​but ​those ​fringy ​guys ​on ​the ​edge ​of ​the ​WBC ​rosters, ​who ​aren't ​necessarily ​getting ​the ​innings ​or ​the ​playing ​time, ​man, ​​when ​it ​is ​over, ​​you ​hear ​so ​much ​complaining ​from ​team ​staffers ​saying, ​'great, ​my ​guy, we're ​trying ​to ​get ​him ​ready ​for ​the ​season. ​He ​didn't ​have ​enough ​innings, ​he ​didn't ​have ​enough ​at-bats. ​He ​wasn't ​able ​to ​do ​that,' ​because ​not ​everybody ​is ​going ​to ​play ​on ​these ​rosters.

Raleigh hit 60 home runs this past season, the most-ever by a catcher and the most-ever by a switch-hitter. He finished second in the American League MVP voting.

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