SAO PAULO (AP) — Hall of Famer Barry Larkin has been hired by the Brazilian baseball federation to manage its national team in a qualifying round for next year’s World Baseball Classic.
The former shortstop spent his 19-year career with the Cincinnati Reds and was inducted into Cooperstown this year.
Larkin visited the country earlier this year during Major League Baseball’s “Elite Camp in Brazil,” when he helped instruct young players from across South America.
The federation said Tuesday that it will be “an honor and a privilege for Brazilian baseball” to have Larkin as its manager when it plays the qualifier in Panama City from Nov. 15-19, adding it will “certainly improve the development of Brazilian baseball.”
Brazil faces Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama in qualifying.
