More WBC Brewers: Gallardo (Mexico), Maldonado (Puerto Rico)

Tonight Adam McCalvy reports that two more Brewers have committed to represent their home countries in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, giving the Brewers players on four different squads.

Today's big news is that Yovani Gallardo will pitch for Team Mexico. This will be Gallardo's first WBC, and for the Brewers it comes at a pretty difficult time: Gallardo is being counted upon to anchor a largely unproven Brewer rotation this season, so I'd guess the organization isn't too excited about him getting geared up to pitch in somewhat meaningful games this early in the spring.

Gallardo was born in Mexico, so he's eligible to compete for the country even though he grew up and went to high school in Texas.

Meanwhile, Martin Maldonado parlayed a breakout 2012 season into an invitation to catch for Puerto Rico. He hit .266/.321/.408 in 78 games for the Brewers last season and is expected to split time at catcher with Jonathan Lucroy during the 2013 season. With both Lucroy and Maldonado committed to the WBC, the Brewers will be pretty shorthanded at catcher for a fair amount of training camp.

In addition to Gallardo, Maldonado and Lucroy the Brewers have Ryan Braun (USA), John Axford, Jim Henderson and Taylor Green (Canada) all scheduled to compete in the classic. The US, Mexico and Canada will all play their first round games in Arizona, but Puerto Rico is hosting Pool C at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.