CARY, N.C. -- USA Baseball today revealed the 2022 18U National Team coaching staff that will assist manager Denny Hocking at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup from September 9-18 in Sarasota and Bradenton, Florida. Adam Moseley (Hoover High School) joins the staff as the team’s pitching coach, while Roberto Vaz (LSU Eunice) and Jack Wilson (Thousand Oaks High School) will serve as assistant coaches.
“We are thrilled to have such a strong staff joining Denny to help lead the 18U National Team this summer as we work toward our goal of another world championship,” 18U National Team General Manager Ashley Bratcher said. “Each of these coaches brings an incredible depth of knowledge and experience that will be invaluable to these young athletes as they strive to reach the top of the world stage and earn gold on our home soil.”
Moseley, who served as the pitching coach for the world champion 15U National Team in 2018, will return in the same position for the 2022 18U National Team. His USA Baseball coaching experience also includes stints at the 2017 14U National Team Development Program (NTDP) and 15U National Team Trials, and he was also named to the 2020 15U National Team staff before the 2020 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup was postponed. Moseley is currently the head coach at Hoover High School (Hoover, Ala.), where he led the Buccaneers to an Alabama State Baseball Championship in 2017. Before taking the head coaching position at Hoover following the 2014 season, Moseley led his former high school, Grissom High School (Huntsville, Ala.), to the state quarterfinals in four of his final five seasons. Moseley has coached high school baseball for 15 seasons and has compiled an overall record of 441-227.
Former Golden Spikes Award finalist Roberto Vaz will make his USA Baseball national team coaching debut with the 18U National Team in 2022. Vaz is currently in his eighth season as an assistant at LSU Eunice after re-joining the staff in 2017. The Brooklyn, New York, native oversees base running, hitters, and outfielders, and helped guide the team to NJCAA National Championships in 2012, 2018, and 2021. During their run to the title in 2012, Vaz helped guide the Bengals to a then-school record 57 wins. He entered the coaching ranks in 2006 as an assistant coach at Grissom High School (Huntsville, Ala.) before earning his first head coaching gig with the North Alabama Expos in 2009. Vaz's other coaching stops included three years as head coach of the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs, as well as two assistant roles at McNeese State and Buckhorn High School (Hunstville, Ala.). He played collegiately at Northeast Texas Community College, winning the 1996 NJCAA National Championship before spending a season at Alabama. There, Vaz finished as a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, also earning spots on the All-American First Team as well as All-SEC First Team. Vaz was drafted in the seventh round by the Oakland Athletics in the 1997 MLB Draft, playing seven years of professional baseball.
Rounding out the staff is Wilson who returns to the 18U National Team as an assistant coach for the second year in a row. Most recently, Wilson served as the head coach at Thousand Oaks High School (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) from 2017-2021, where he collected a 98-30-1 overall record and led the Lancers to two Marmonte League championships (2019, 2021) and a CIF-SS Division 2 title in 2021. Under his guidance, the program went 24-6, including 10-2 in league play, in 2019 and finished the 2021 season with a 27-1 record. He also managed the squad to an 8-0 start to the 2020 season and a No. 1 CIF-SS Division 2 ranking before the pause in play caused by COVID-19. Prior to his coaching career, Wilson played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, and Atlanta Braves for over 12 years in the big leagues. He led the National League with 12 triples in 2004, earning a spot on the National League All-Star team and a Silver Slugger award for his efforts. In 1,370 MLB games, Wilson recorded a .265/.306/.366 career slash line with 61 home runs and 426 RBIs.
USA Baseball announced in February that Team USA will be led in the U-18 Baseball World Cup by Hocking, who is making his USA Baseball managerial debut. He brings 13 years of major league playing experience to the role, including 11 seasons with the Minnesota Twins and a season each with the Colorado Rockies and the Kansas City Royals.
18U National Team Trials will take place August 29-September 2 in Florida. The final 20-man 18U National Team roster will be announced following Trials and the team will remain in Florida for training from September 3-8 before taking part in the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup. The U-18 Baseball World Cup will be hosted by the U.S. for the first time since 1995 in Bradenton and Sarasota, Florida, from September 9-18.
From 2011-2018, the 18U National Team program won eight consecutive international tournament titles, including winning four straight WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cups in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Currently the U.S. and Cuba are the only two countries to win four consecutive world championship titles at the U-18 level. In total, the program has won eight world championships. Most recently, the stars and stripes earned the silver medal at the 2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup in Gijang, South Korea before the 2021 squad went 5-1-1 in a seven-game friendship series against Canada.
The full 18U National Team schedule for 2022 will be announced at a later date.
For the most up-to-date information on the 18U National Team, be sure to follow @USABaseball18U and @USABaseball on Twitter.
