Dodgers News: Andrew Friedman Iffy on Pitchers Joining World Baseball Classic Roster
Getting to represent your country in your respective sport is the highest honor an athlete can achieve. When you grow up wanting to become a pro athlete, the last thing you expect is to be given such an opportunity.
An opportunity that is so rare it’s hard to think of many reasons why players may choose to sit it out. With the World Baseball Classic slowly approaching, undoubtably Dodgers players would be invited to join with their unprecedented season and stacked lineup.
Team USA's title defense features @will_smith30 ?
The @Dodgers catcher is ALL IN. pic.twitter.com/M20evF9IZG
— USA Baseball (@USABaseball) August 29, 2022
Four Dodgers have committed to joining the team, which include Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Trea Turner for Team USA and Freddie Freeman for Canada. However for Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, he sees the vision of the WBC but has his concerns over durability among pitchers playing through an already grueling season (quotes via Bill Plunkett, The OC Register).
“A guy who goes through a full, complete season and through October, it definitely concerns me some in that to ramp up to that intensity early is concerning. That being said, I don’t really know the answer to a lot of this. In a vacuum, I love the WBC and what it does to promote the game around the world. You see how into it so many people get from different pockets of the world.”
Friedman is aware of the impact the WBC has for the world of baseball, but at the end of the day the main goal being apart of an MLB team is to be the best version of yourself for your team.
“So in terms of growing our game, I believe in it – when I’m wearing my industry hat. When I’m wearing my Dodgers hat, it concerns me with pitchers.”
The list of Dodgers players to join the WBC surely isn’t coming to an end, but Friedman’s thoughts could be something to keep in mind if further players choose to join or inevitably decline the invitation.
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