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Liberatore, other former Cardinals named to USA Baseball roster for Olympic qualifying

The Cardinals' top prospect and a number of former Cardinals could represent Team USA in Tokyo

ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals' top prospect could be one of USA Baseball's biggest stars in the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo.

USA Baseball announced its 28-man training camp roster for World Baseball Softball Confederation Baseball Americas Qualifier on Sunday, and it has a large Cardinals flair to it.

Cardinals' left-handed pitcher and top prospect Matthew Liberatore is on the training camp roster for the United States. MLB.com has Liberatore ranked as the 30th best prospect in all of baseball. Liberatore is currently at the Triple A level for the Cardinals in Memphis.

Players that are not currently on a 26-man Major League roster or on the Injured List are eligible to play for Team USA.

There were a host of other former Cardinals on the training camp list as well.

Three members of the 2011 Cardinals World Series championship team made the training camp roster. Outfielder Jon Jay and pitchers Edwin Jackson and Marc Rzepcynzki will be competing for a spot. Former Cardinals prospect pitcher Brandon Dickson earned a spot as well. And former Cardinals catcher from 2019-2020 Matt Wieters is on the team, too.

Other notable players that will be in camp with Team USA include outfielder Matt Kemp, Homer Bailey, Logan Forsythe, Todd Frazier, Anthony Gose and David Robertson.

The 28-man training camp roster will be trimmed to 26 and announced on May 30. Long-time Angels Manager Mike Scioscia will manage this year's USA squad.

Team USA opens the Americas qualifying tournament against Nicaragua on May 31 in Port St. Lucie, Florida, plays the Dominican Republic the next day at West Palm Beach and finishes first-round in Group A against Puerto Rico on June 2 at Port St. Lucie.

Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela are in Group B of the qualifying tournament.

The top two teams in each group advance to the super round on June 4 and June 5, and first-round results carry over. The top team from the super round joins Japan, Israel, Mexico and South Korea at the Olympic baseball tournament, to be played in Japan from July 28 to Aug. 7 in Fukushima and Yokohama.

Second- and third-place teams advance to a final qualifier in June in Mexico, which will include Australia, Netherlands and Taiwan.

Baseball is back in the Olympics for the first time since 2008.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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