California assistant Chad Highberger will be on the coaching staff for USA Baseball's 2024 16U/17U National Team Development Program (NTDP), which takes place at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina on Thursday through Sunday.

Highberger will serve as an assistant coach for the red squad, one of the United States' three units that, along with the Canadian Junior National Team, will play a round-robin format and train for a U-18 Baseball World Cup Americas qualifier next month. The USA Baseball coaching staff will assess and evaluate players for possible future participation in national team programming. The agenda for the four-day event will also include workouts, skill development sessions and off-field educational seminars, as well as exposure to professional scouts, college recruiters, USA Baseball staff and national team coaches.

Highberger has previous experience with USA Baseball instructing infielders as part of the organization's prospect development pipeline and as a member of a taskforce for the 16U Team Championships.

"It is an honor to help coach for USA Baseball," Highberger said. "I have always taken the greatest amount of pride in the name on the front of the jersey, and that has never held more true than when wearing USA across my chest." 

Highberger became a full-time assistant coach at Cal in 2024 after serving as a volunteer assistant for the Golden Bears for two seasons (2022-23). He worked extensively with 2024 All-American Caleb Lomavita, who was drafted 39th overall by the Washington Nationals in the 2024 MLB Draft earlier this month.

"Chad is a bright young coach who continues to show the eagerness to develop in our profession," Cal baseball head coach Mike Neu said. "This is an excellent opportunity for him, and it's also good for the exposure of Cal baseball at the national level."

Prior to his arrival at Cal, Highberger was an assistant coach at Holy Names (2019-21) and Los Medanos College (2017-18) following a playing career that included three seasons of independent professional baseball with the Pittsburg Diamonds (2016-18) and Gary Southshore Railcats (2017) following collegiate stints at Los Medanos College (2012-13) and Eastern New Mexico (2014-15).