This is an excerpt from the latest edition of Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE .

He may have the most iconic catch in World Baseball Classic history , but when Adam Jones first tried out for USA Baseball as a teenager, the then-future Major League star was denied. Just 15 or 16 at the time, Jones had traveled to Houston for the youth team tryouts (where he would also meet future MLB center fielder Michael Bourn, then playing at the University of Houston).

“I was just like, ‘One day, I’m going to represent [the USA,]'" Jones told MLB.com over Zoom from Barcelona.

That dream finally came true when USA Baseball came knocking with an o

See Full Page