Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) Mookie Betts (Dodgers) Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis) and Mike Trout (Angels). The US WBC (World Baseball Classic) national team, which has only four MVPs, is considered a strong candidate for the championship along with the Dominican Republic.
However, unlike the batting line made up of all-star players, the reality is that the pitching staff has relatively less weight. In addition, there are players who initially expressed their intention to participate but were left out of the final list. Most of them are pitchers. 메이저사이트
First, Nick Martinez (San Diego) was left out of the final list due to preparations for the season and was put on standby as a ‘designated pitcher pool (a reserve list that can be replaced after the second round)’. Nathan Eboldi (Texas), who transferred to free agency, was also excluded from the list right before the tournament. Brooks Rayleigh (Mets), Kendall Graveman (White Sox), etc. took his place. Here, Kyle Freeland (Colorado) came in as Nestor Cortes (Yankees), who was expected to be a starting pitcher, left due to injury.
How is coach Mark DeRosa, who leads the U.S. national team, accepting this situation? On the 15th (Korean time), coach DeRosa appeared on a podcast hosted by New York Post baseball reporters Joel Sherman and John Heyman and expressed his honest opinion. “I asked all the teams and asked which players would be interested in playing for the WBC, but he had a hard time picking pitchers,” he confessed.
Director DeRosa also added, “Clubs work hard to win the World Series, and they invest huge amounts of money to do so. The club’s position is understandable.”
He also proposed to top starting pitchers such as Dylan Seaz (White Sox) and Justin Verlander (Mets), but declined. Coach DeRosa said, “The word came back that it was difficult for Siege because he was a young player before signing a big contract. Verlander said that it was difficult after he underwent Tommy John surgery and threw the World Series last year.” At the same time, he said, “I will prepare for the tournament with the pitchers I have now.”
DeRosa participated in the 2009 WBC as a player. At that time, the United States lost to Japan in the semifinals and had to settle for the semifinals. He introduced the determination of other players at that time, saying, “At that time, everyone was lacking in preparation. Now, Wainwright has already thrown 60 or 70 pitches from the bullpen.”
Regarding Japan, who is likely to meet again in the semifinals this time, he said, “There are many good players. Shohei Otani (Angels) is the world’s best baseball player. He will also appear in the WBC, but he expects to appear in the quarterfinals.”