The World Baseball Classic gets underway today, and there are several Braves and plenty of ex-Braves participating in the tournament. Starting shortstop Andrelton Simmons is playing for The Netherlands, backup shortstop Ramiro Pena will play for Mexico, minor leaguers Matt Kennelly and Andy Russell will represent Australia, and closer Craig Kimbrel will be the stopper for Team USA.
Simba has already collected three hits, including two doubles, and scored two runs while leading off in a winning effort as Team Netherlands beat Team Korea. I look forward to this kind of performance out of the leadoff spot all season out of Simmons. (Old friend Andruw Jones also had two hits for the Dutch squad.)
Check out all of the current and former Braves in the WBC here.
SB Nation is collecting all the WBC news from around the network here.
Enjoy this following infographic, from MLB and the WBC (click to enlarge).