CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball today announced that Brad Penny has been named the pitching coach for the 2021 18U National Team, replacing Adam Moseley (Hoover High School). The 2021 18U National Team will compete against Canada in a seven-game friendship series from September 3-9 in Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida.
Penny will make his national team coaching debut with the 2021 18U National Team staff after serving as a coach at the inaugural MLB Draft Combine from June 20-18 and the 2021 PDP League from July 24-31. Both events were hosted at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. Under Penny’s guidance at the PDP League, Team Light Blue’s pitching staff tallied a 3.20 ERA in 39.1 innings of work while collecting 64 strikeouts and allowing just six extra base hits en route to earning the 2021 PDP League championship.
In addition to his USA Baseball coaching experience, Penny also donned the stars and stripes as a player when he suited up for the organization’s first Professional National Team in 1999. The squad won a silver medal at the 1999 Pan American Games, qualifying Team USA for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games where the U.S. earned the gold medal with a 4-0 defeat of Cuba.
The right-hander was selected in the fifth round of the 1996 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks to begin a 14-year MLB playing career that included two All-Star selections and a World Series championship. The Blackwell, Oklahoma, native finished his career with 121 wins, 1,273 strikeouts, and a 4.29 ERA in 1,925.0 innings pitched in the big leagues. After making his major league debut with the Miami Marlins in 2000, he helped lead the team to the organization’s second World Series championship in 2003 with a 4.13 ERA in 32 starts during the season. Penny also made two starts in the Fall Classic against the New York Yankees, earning a 2-0 record while striking out seven in 12.1 innings of work.
Penny made his first All-Star Game appearance in 2006 and finished that season with a 4.33 ERA, a career-high 148 strikeouts, and a league-leading 16 wins for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2007, he collected a 3.03 ERA, 135 punchouts, and an MLB-best .800 (16-4) win percentage to earn his second All-Star Game selection in as many years and finish third in National League Cy Young Award voting. He finished his playing career with stints playing for the Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Detroit Tigers before returning to the Marlins in 2014 for the final season.
The 2021 18U National Team Trials will take place August 27-31 in Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida, and the 2021 18U National Team will be named on August 31. Team USA will then take on Canada in a seven-game friendship series from September 3-9. The series was added to the calendar following the postponement of the 2021 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup to next year.
The series will be hosted at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, and LECOM Park and Pirate City in Bradenton. The schedule for the series is as follows:
- Friday, September 3: Ed Smith Stadium at 6:00 p.m. EDT
- Saturday, September 4: Ed Smith Stadium at 4:00 p.m. EDT
- Sunday, September 5: Ed Smith Stadium at 6:00 p.m. EDT
- Monday, September 6: Tropicana Field at 4:00 p.m. EDT
- Tuesday, September 7: LECOM Park at 2:00 p.m. EDT
- Wednesday, September 8: Pirate City at 1:00 p.m. EDT
- Thursday, September 9: LECOM Park at 2:00 p.m. EDT
For the full 2021 18U National Team schedule, including 18U National Team Trials, click here.
The 18U National Team will be led in 2021 by Manager Jason Maxwell, who is serving as a national team manager for the second time after guiding the 15U National Team to its first world championship in 2018. Maxwell and Penny will be joined on staff by assistant coaches Michael Cuddyer and Jack Wilson.
For the most up-to-date information on the 18U National Team, visit USABaseball.com or follow @USABaseball and @USABaseball18U on Twitter.
