2019 15U National Team Preview

Entering its eighth season in 2019, USA Baseball’s 15U National Team has already established a reputation of success on the international stage. Team USA continued its success on the world stage in 2018, winning its first-ever World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-15 Baseball World Cup title, defeating host-country Panama 7-1 to earn the gold medal. Since its inception in 2012, the 15U National Team has already compiled a total of four gold medals and has produced several athletes that have gone on to play professionally.

This fall, the 15U National Team will travel to Playa del Carmen, Mexico to compete in the COPABE U-15 Pan-American Championships. Led by Manager Troy Cameron and a supporting staff that has a history with USA Baseball, Team USA will once again look to add more hardware to its mantle.

When Team USA competes at the 2019 edition of the COPABE Pan-American Championships, it will do so as the three-time defending champions after earning gold medals in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Team USA boasts a 23-2 overall record at the Pan-American Championships and has outscored its opponents 272-63.

The 2019 manager, Cameron, previously served as the field coordinator for the 2018 14U National Team Development Program (NTDP), as well as a coach at the 2018 15U National Team Trials. He is no stranger to the 15U National Team, after serving as an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning 2017 15U National Team. He will be accompanied by assistant coaches Manny Crespo, Jared Halpert and Karsten Whitson, who have all had previous experience with coaching with USA Baseball.

Crespo returns to the 15U National Team staff as an assistant coach for the second consecutive year after helping Team USA to its first-ever World Cup title in 2018.

“I’ve known Manny since I was 15. It’s kind of neat,” said Cameron. “I’ve got pictures of when Manny and I were at the USA Trials together in 1996, so our friendship goes back about 25 years.”

Halpert and Whitson both served as assistant coaches at the 2018 15U Trials and 14U NTDP, where they worked closely with Cameron. For his efforts at the 14U NTDP, Whitson was named the 2018 USA Baseball Volunteer Coach of the Year. This will be their first seasons as assistant coaches on a USA Baseball National Team.

“There’s a lot of similarities between their experiences and personalities with mine,” said Cameron. “I think these kids are going to learn a lot from these coaches.”

The 15U National Team will be selected through a two-phase trial system that will begin in July at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. Phase 1 will feature 72 players identified from the 2018 National Team Identification Series, 2018 14U NTDP, the 2019 National Team Championships and 2019 14U NTDP. Thirty-four of those athletes will then be invited to Phase 2 before the official 20-man roster will be named on July 31.

“The goal is to pick the best kids we can to represent the United States the best way we can,” said Cameron. “They have to understand what it means to be a Team USA member, but at the same time, the goal is to go win a gold medal. We won’t accept anything short of that.”

The 2019 15U National Team will train in Houston, Texas, from September 6-10 before heading to Mexico to compete in the 2019 Pan-American Championships from September 13-22. ♦

The goal is to go win a gold medal. We won’t accept anything short of that.”

TROY CAMERON, 2019 15U NATIONAL TEAM MANAGER

COACHES SPOTLIGHT: TROY CAMERON

Troy Cameron, the manager of the USA Baseball 15U National Team, has one goal in mind as he prepares for the 2019 season: to win gold. Cameron has a rich and deep history within the game, and while 2019 will mark his first opportunity to manage for a USA Baseball national team, he has a multitude of experience within USA Baseball, including serving as the field coordinator for the 2018 14U National Team Development Program and as a coach at the 2018 15U National Team Trials. He was also an assistant coach for the gold medal-winning 2017 USA Baseball 15U National Team.

“In 2017, I got to be a national team assistant coach, which definitely checked the boxes of putting that uniform on, going to a foreign country and representing the United States,” Cameron said. “Now that I get the chance to do it as a manager, it’s kind of like doing it all over again for the first time. It’s an indescribable feeling and I can’t even put into words what it means to me to be able to [put on a USA Baseball jersey] from a managerial standpoint. I just hope I make everybody proud and we represent the United States the best we can.”

In addition to Cameron’s experience with USA Baseball, he just finished his seventh season as the head coach at St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.). He led the Raiders to the 2018 Class 8A FHSSA Baseball State Championship title and has won five consecutive district championships. Cameron was drafted No. 29 overall by the Atlanta Braves in the first round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft and played nine years of professional baseball.

“I’m fortunate that I’ve gotten to do a lot of things within baseball and through baseball, and fortunate that I chased the dream for nine years,” said Cameron. “I’ve won championships at every level as a player. Now, as a coach, I’ve won the state championship. But out all of my experiences and amazing things I’ve gotten to do on a baseball field, number one on that list, by far, is putting on a USA uniform.”

This fall, Cameron will have the opportunity to accomplish what he believes is the ultimate goal in the game of baseball: win gold for his country.