The MLB postseason dominates the world of baseball, which makes sense because it’s, well, the MLB postseason. Once that’s over, however, baseball here in the States ceases to exist at the professional level for the winter. There is baseball in other parts of the world, though, and this year, which includes the Premier 12 tournament. This is the second iteration of the tournament, which is held every four years.

The tournament is hosted by the world baseball Confederation, the same group that runs the World Baseball Classic. With baseball returning to the Olympics in 2020 for the first time since 2008, this year’s Premier 12 tournament will serve as a qualifier. The tournament pits the top twelve ranked international programs in the world. The United States is in second place with Japan claiming the top spot. Korea, which won the first competition in 2015, is in third place.

On Thursday, Team USA announced their roster. The group, who will be managed by Joe Girardi, is composed of professional players but those on 40-man rosters are not eligible. As a result, there are some really interesting prospects set to participate. Four of those prospects are in the Red Sox organization, which is the most of any team in baseball. Those four prospects are: 1B/3B Bobby Dalbec, RHP Tanner Houck, 2B/SS C.J. Chatham, and RHP Noah Song. The latter is the most interesting given that Song has his military commitment, giving some hope he may indeed be able to push that back and report to spring training next year. Alex Speier throws some cold water on that idea, though, reporting that he received permission a while back to participate in this tournament. There is still a chance things could change, but as of now Song is still expected to report to flight school this winter.

Along with Red Sox prospects, this list also includes some of the best prospects in all of baseball. The team will be led by Angels outfield prospect Joe Adele, who is the consensus top-five prospect at the moment. Others on MLB’s pipeline top 100 list include Braves outfielder drew waters, white SOx infielder Andre Vaughn, Padres infielder Xavier Edwards, Phillies pitcher Spencer Howard and Diamondbacks catcher Daulton Varsho.

As for the international rosters to go, there does not appear to be any current Red Sox players to be involved. Chris Cotillo noted that Dedgar Jimenez is going to try in the Venezuela squad, but he doesn’t seem to have made it. Zi-Wei Ling also seemed like a slam dunk for Taiwan’s roster, but he also seems to be out there. Daniel McGrath would be on Australia’s list but will not be involved due to his workload this summer.

There will, however, be a few old friends that I have noticed on the rosters that have been released. Esteban Quiroz, who was traded to the Padres for Colten Brewer, will be in the Mexican national team. Ivan Dejesus Jr., who was an infielder for the Red Sox for a month after coming into the Nick Punto deal before being sent to Pittsburgh in a trade that brought Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt to Boston, will be on the Puerto Rico team. Che-Hsuan Lin, a former minor League outfield in the system who received a brief Cup of coffee in 2012, will be on the Taiwan roster.

The Premier 12 tournament will start with three groups of four teams playing round Robin. Team USA plays in Guadalajara, Mexico on November 2. The tournament runs until November 17 and ends with a gold medal match in Tokyo.

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