MESA, AZ — Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete-Crow Armstrong can’t wait to catch up again with former roommate Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., and hang out with one of his heroes, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper.
San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb plans to hang around as much as possible with three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, picking his brain until the future Hall of Famer gets tired of him.
Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman, who is hosting a few of his new teammates this week, including Boston Red Sox slugger Roman Anthony, wants to spend as much time as possible with New York Yankees three-time MVP Aaron Judge.
The World Baseball Classic is back, with Team USA arriving over the weekend in Arizona, joined by four other national teams. The Americans will gather for a team dinner and have their first practice Monday in Scottsdale with exhibition games Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants and Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies before flying to Houston for the first round of the WBC.
They have assembled easily their finest team in WBC history, loaded with future Hall of Famers, MVPs, Cy Young winners and All-Stars. It’s gold medal or bust after winning the WBC in 2017, but losing to Japan in the finals in 2023.
While Team USA has had difficulty attracting pitchers and a few stars like Aaron Judge in the past, this time had virtually everyone begging to play for them.
No one took a bigger financial gamble than the Detroit Tigers’ two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. He’s in line for a historic $400-million-plus contract as a free agent after the season, and everyone would have understood if he declined. He originally planned to decline, but after talking to several of his close friends who were playing, relented and signed up.
“It says a lot about him as a competitor,’ =Crow-Armstrong tells USA TODAY Sports. “It’s sick that he wants do this on his walk year. His mound presence is how a lead singer would command a crowd or a really good speaker would command the room.
“It’s almost like everybody goes silent when he takes the mound.’
Still, as much as Skubal is looking forward to representing the United States, he also realizes he needs to be smart about the potential risk. He informed Team USA he will pitch just once for perhaps two or three innings, likely March 7 against Great Britain, and return to the Tigers’ camp in Lakeland, FL.
“I’d love to do the whole thing, it’s just a timing thing,’ Skubal told reporters in Florida. “It kills me. I think I got the best of both worlds, getting a start, being in the room, learning from all those guys, but also by being healthy and pitching this season.’
Pitching just once was a perfect compromise between the Tigers, Team USA, and his agent, Scott Boras.
So, will Boras be traveling to Houston to keep an eye on Skubal?
“No,’ he told USA TODAY Sports, “I’ll be home on my couch watching with a knot in my stomach.’
USA WBC roster could have been even more loaded
Team USA could have had former MVP Mookie Betts and All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker, too, but with their wives soon due with babies, they stayed home. Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who has played in the past for Team Canada, is staying back in Dodgers camp, too. So is New York Yankees first baseman/outfielder Cody Bellinger, who declined an invitation, though teammate Paul Goldschmidt ended up on the team.
Minnesota Twins starter Taj Bradley elected to stay put to be with his new teammates instead of joining Team Mexico, with Jose Urquidy, Cody Ponce, Aaron Sanchez, Ramon Urias and Isaac Paredes also not playing for Mexico. Team Puerto Rico will be without Houston Astros third baseman Carlos Correa and New York Mets shortstop Francsico Lindor, while Venezuela is missing second baseman Jose Altuve.
And while four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani plans to play for Team Japan again, there won’t be a sequel to the 2023 WBC when he struck out USA captain Mike Trout to win the gold. He will strictly be a DH and won’t pitch.
“Now it’s time for us to go out there and change that script,” said Judge, USA’s team captain. “I’m excited, just like I was the day I committed. It’s going to be fun. The boys are pumped up, and it’s time to go to work.”
‘The greatest country in the world’
The WBC experience will be emotional for players like Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes and Boston Red Sox lety Garrett Whitlock. Skenes spent two years as a cadet at the Air Force Academy and still wants to serve his country when his playing career ends. Whitlock’s father, Larry, served in Vietnam, and he cried when Whitlock broke the news to him.
“That’s why it’s such an honor to me,” Whitlock told reporters in Fort Myers, FL on Saturday. “Forget the stage and everything else, but just to represent the country. I’ll never be able to sacrifice like so many of our service members do. But it’s the chance hopefully we can bring them some joy.”
Skenes, who plans to start twice in the tournament along with Webb, says he wouldn’t miss the WBC for all of the world.
“We’re doing it to represent the men and women that are fighting for us,’ Skenes said this winter, “along with many other things that make this country the greatest country in the world. That’s what I believe. That’s why I wanted to serve, why I went to the Air Force Academy.’
For Harper, who last represented USA in international competition when he was 16 years old, says he will wear No. 24 in the tournament, the number he world back in 2009 when he still was a teenager.
“There’s nothing like it,’ Harper told reporters in Clearwater, FL. “You can try to think that there is something like it, but there’s not. Being able to wear the colors of your country and represent something so much bigger than yourself …
“I’m really, really looking forward to this. We’ve got a really good group of players.’
You know the team loaded when Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, one of USA’s heroes in the 2023 WBC, declined an invitation when told he would have had to shift to second base. And Trout, who perhaps wouldn’t have been cleared for insurance anyway, wasn’t even invited.
Certainly, there will be nerves by GMs watching their pitchers perform in the event. It really isn’t a concern for position players, but pitchers musth ramp up quicker than normal, and thrown into an environment that replicates the postseason, if not greater.
“It’s a great event,’ Buster Posey, Giants president of baseball operations, said earlier this spring. “But we’ve also seen over the years that it can derail some pitchers, just because there’s no way to replicate getting yourself ready for what’s essentially a playoff baseball atmosphere in early March.”
Still, injury risk or not, or leaving their teammates behind, players absolutely love the event.
“The WBC is great, man,’ said San Diego Padres All-Star third baseman Manny Machado, who’s playing for the Dominican Republic. “I’m super excited. I think everybody in the world is waiting for it. … It’s just such a cool event. You’re playing for not just your country, not for the fans, but the people in their countries and across the world.
“I get goosebumps just talking about it because it’s such a special event.’
WBC reunion for Team USA’s rising young stars
The WBC is not only for national pride, but it breaks up the monotony of spring training. Players will stay at five-star hotels with their families, play in a postseason environment, and catch up with long-time friends.
“I think just wearing the stars and stripes across your chest is special for players,’ said Cubs starter Matthew Boyd, who will pitch for USA. “And then listening to the national anthem with the flag on your shoulder, that’s the highest honor.’
Witt, who had only three plate appearances in the last WBC, is the starting shortstop this time around, and says he can’t wait to play alongside Crow-Armstrong and infielder Brice Turang, his teammates from a U18 team.
“Even before they asked if I’d play,’’ Witt said, “the answer was yes. I loved the event just being around the guys. It was unreal.’
Now, for the first time since they were teenagers and roommates, Witt and Crow-Armstrong will be reunited on the same USA team. They were merely high school prospects at the time, manhandling the competition. Today, they are All-Stars, with Witt, 25, already establishing himself as one of the finest players in the game.
“I immediately looked up to Bob,’ Crow-Armstrong told USA TODAY Sports, “and to this day he’s probably the best player I’ve ever seen. It’s not even close. And it’s so cool what he is doing now. …
“I just feel very lucky that I get to experience something like this. I’m ready to play some real meaningful baseball and just wear those colors. I mean, I haven’t done it for some years, and getting to do it at the highest stage if going to be special.’
Yet, considering that Crow-Amstrong already has a strong friendship with Witt, there is one star he’d love hanging out with during this two-week tournament.
“Bryce Harper is the guy I’m looking forward to the most,’’ Crow-Armstrong said. “Just being around people who have coached him or played with him, I’m just very excited to see him go about his business.
“He’s been at the peak of everything for the longest time. He’s done it it in a very authentic way, in a very real way. He’s done a lot of good things for the game, but just from a behind-the-scenes perspective, I’m excited to see him.’’
Now, for the first time, they are all teammates, representing their country and going for the gold.
“I’m super proud of being an American,’ said Bregman, playing on his sixth USA team. “I take great pride in being from the United States. … It’s wearing the Stars and Stripes. You become a family and a team really quickly. Even though we’re all in different camps right now, [Monday] we’ll be in the same clubhouse.
“That’s the coolest part of it is the bond that’s created right away when you step foot in that locker room and know what’re you’re representing and what you’re playing for.’’
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