蜜芽传媒

The World Baseball Classic, the most prestigious competition in international baseball, starts next week. It sees the top 16 teams in the world fight it out to be crowned world champions!

This year for the first time Israel have qualified for the competition and play their first game against South Korea in Seoul on Monday. Most of the Israeli squad is made of US citizens including catcher Ryan Lavarnway.

He's enjoyed a career in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox and now plays for the Oakland Athletics in his native California, but the chance to represent Israel was too good to pass up and enabled him to learn more about a new part of his identity.

Photo: Ryan Lavarnway #36 of Team Israel (Credit Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)