PHILADELPHIA -- Before they were gathering for the Midsummer Classic, CJ Abrams, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Riley Greene and Bobby Witt Jr. were teammates on a Team USA group that won gold at the 2018 COPABE U-18 Pan-American Championship.
Now they’re back together as Major League Baseball All-Stars, with Abrams and Crow-Armstrong making the team for the second time and Carroll, Greene and Witt earning their third selections. The reunion in Philadelphia carries a little extra weight because these players have already lived the version of the story they once talked about as teenagers.
“There are conversations that occurred on that team where you talk about maybe one day getting to meet again in the big leagues,” Carroll said. “To now actually do it, it’s very cool. Anytime during the regular season where we're playing against one of them, or something like this where we get to come together, I find it really special.”
Abrams said the group never lacked belief.
“We would have believed [this would happen] because we believed in ourselves,” said Abrams. “We went out there every day and did our thing, took care of business. Yeah, we would have believed.”
That 2018 team made a statement in a hurry, rolling past Panama 17-2 in the gold medal game. Witt hit for the cycle, and Jack Leiter piled up nine strikeouts in four innings.
Witt said the group’s strength started long before that tournament, with years of familiarity built through summer showcases and shared reps.
“That team was special,” Witt reflected. “That team we had was building from 2016, from all the summer showcases.
We all knew each other, we grew up playing with each other. … The list goes on and on with the big leaguers coming out of that team.
You knew it was special just by who the guys were -- not only baseball players, but who they are off the field, too.”
The numbers from that run still jump off the page. Team USA outscored opponents 131-27 across nine games, a plus-104 margin that set a record for most runs scored by an 18U National Team in an international tournament. Abrams, Tyler Callihan, Drew Romo and Anthony Volpe landed on the All-Tournament Team.
For Carroll, the experience was about more than the wins.
“I think as a high schooler, especially, you're just trying to see a little bit how you stack up,” Carroll said. “To get an opportunity like that to play with the best players in the country, in your class and to all be pulling for the same thing, for this country, I think it was a really informative experience for me.”
Crow-Armstrong remembers just how crowded that roster was with talent. Even making the field each day felt like a small victory.
“When we just took the field every day, that was enough for me to appreciate what I was a part of,” he said. “Gunnar Henderson didn’t make that team.
There are other great players who didn’t make that team. Riley Greene was playing first and DHing.
Tyler Callihan was playing every position, pitching and catching. … Craziness.”
The connections from that team have lasted well beyond the tournament itself. Crow-Armstrong and Witt were roommates, while Abrams and Carroll shared a room as well. The families got close, too, and that part of the experience still stands out.
“I’ve been able to appreciate that,” said Crow-Armstrong. “I’ve reminisced on that a lot. It’s cool to say you were a part of that.”
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