Israel’s pitching coach for the 2026 World Baseball Classic is home grown.
Alon Leichman, a native of Kibbutz Gezer, Israel, and the assistant pitching coach for Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, was named Israel’s pitching coach for the 2026 World Baseball Classic this week in an announcement on Israel Baseball’s Instagram page.
Leichman is in his third season as a coach in MLB and first with the Marlins after spending 2023 and 2024 as the assistant pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds. Prior to joining the Reds, Leichman coached at several levels of the Seattle Mariners’ minor league system from 2017-22.
As a player, Leichman was on the roster but didn’t make an appearance for Israel at the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He later served as Israel’s bullpen coach at the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers and in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo in 2021, Leichman threw one perfect inning in relief against Team USA.
Israel will play in Pool D at loanDepot Park, the home of Leichman’s Miami Marlins. They’ll open Pool Play against Venezuela on March 7, then face Nicaragua on March 8, the Dominican Republic on March 9, and The Netherlands on March 10. The country is 5-5 all-time at the World Baseball Classic and reached the second round in 2017, advancing out of Pool A in South Korea with a 3-0 record before being eliminated in Pool E, the second round pool held at the Tokyo Dome.
Photo: Miami Marlins assistant pitching coach & assistant pitching director Alon Leichman gestures signs toward catcher Agustín Ramírez during the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
