Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — In the past, the World Baseball Classic didn’t necessarily attract the best talent that the U.S.A. had to offer, many players opting not to participate in this international tournament similar to soccer’s World Cup. For next year’s team, there is no such problem. Having already gotten commitments from a host of elite position players, manager Mark DeRosa has started to assemble his pitching staff. And today, Team USA reeled in one of the biggest names in the sport: lefty Clayton Kershaw of your Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kersh has already committed to the Dodgers for 2023, signing a one-year deal shortly after the end of the World Series. He joins a Team USA pitching staff that has also gotten commitments from Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Nestor Cortes of the New York Yankees, Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals and Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants, among others.
And, quite likely this will mean that Kershaw will be throwing to his battery mate Will Smith in the WBC, as Smith has already committed to be in the lineup. And, with Mookie Betts manning right field, it will look a lot like a Dodger game on Kershaw Day in the WBC.
In addition to Smith and Betts, Dodger third base coach Dino Ebel will be going USA manager Mark DeRosa’s coaching staff, making three Dodgers to commit to participating for Team USA in the WBC next Spring. Also, Freddie Freeman, whose parents are both Canadian, has opted to play for Team Canada in the WBC and Julio Urias will no doubt be the ace for Team Mexico.
Team USA will begin its title defense as part of Pool C at Chase Field in Phoenix, from March 11-15, facing Canada, Colombia, Mexico and a to-be-determined qualifying team. The Pool C winner and runner-up will advance to the quarterfinals in Miami from March 17-18, where they will match up against the winner and runner-up of Pool D.
With the type of top-flight pitchers committed, there is always a fear that might get hurt or overpitch themselves so early in the year. And indeed, Dodgers Baseball Ops President Andrew Friedman expressed a concern about exactly in a statement quoted in today’s LA Times.
“I think it’s an incredible event and I think a lot of guys are extremely motivated to play for their country, which I totally understand,” Dodgers Friedman said during the winter meetings. “There are guys that you know, dialing it up that early is a little bit concerning. But someone like Kersh and others that are going to do it, just knowing it’s far enough in advance and preparing and planning for it, I think is really important.”
Well, if the WBC is half as exciting as the recently completed World Cup, the planning and preparation will be well worth it.
