The 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers (WBCQ) begin in February, and national teams have started solidifying their rosters. Four spots are up for grabs for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and China is one of the eight teams that will attempt to qualify for the tournament.
Last week, China released its training camp roster for the 2025 WBCQ, which includes a trio of players from Major League Baseball organizations. Additionally, right-handed pitcher Alan Zhang Carter, who played for China in the 2023 WBC, is on the training camp roster.
RHP Alan Zhang Carter – Carter, 27, was born in Singapore and spent 2024 with the Lake Country DockHounds in the American Association of Professional Baseball. Carter began 2023 by playing for China in the World Baseball Classic, who went 0-4 in the tournament. He allowed four earned runs in 4.1 innings in the WBC.
Carter posted a combined 4.40 ERA in 19 games with Single-A Inland Empire and Double-A Rocket City in the Los Angeles Angels organization in 2023.
OF Landon Wallace – Wallace played at five different minor league baseball levels with the Angels in 2024 and is not on MLB.com’s top 30 prospect list for the organization. The righty hit just .202 with a .648 OPS in 70 games but displayed excellent bat-to-ball skills, striking out 24 times in 244 plate appearances.
Wallace, 22, played college baseball at the University of Nevada, Reno, from 2021-22 and at West Virginia University in 2023.
LHP Jeremy Wu-Yelland – Wu-Yelland, 25, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB June Amateur Draft out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
In 2024, the lefty struggled with High-A Greenville, walking 23 batters in 33.1 innings with a 5.67 ERA. Wu-Yelland’s strikeout numbers (11.3 per nine innings in 2024) could benefit China in the starting rotation or bullpen in the WBCQ.
3B Logan Wagner – A minor league third baseman in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, Wagner can also play first and second base. At just 20 years old, he is several years away from making his MLB debut, but he put together a good offensive season with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga in 2024.
In 38 games in 2024, the 2022 sixth-round draft pick hit six home runs with 23 RBI and a .889 OPS. If Wagner plays for China in the WBCQ, he is an early candidate to be one of their top offensive performers.
In the Coming Weeks
According to the California Winter League on X, Team China will participate in the 2025 CWL season in preparation for the WBCQ at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona. The CWL is the official winter league of the Frontier League, one of MLB’s four partner leagues. The CWL season begins on Monday, January 20, at Palms Springs Stadium in California.
China will play its first game of the 2025 WBCQ on Sunday, March 2, against Germany. Brazil and Colombia are also in the Tucson Qualification Pool, which concludes on March 6. The Taipei Qualification Pool will occur from Feb. 21-25. South Africa, Nicaragua, Spain, and Chinese Taipei will compete at the Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan.
