Tarik Skubal, arguably the best pitcher in Major League Baseball, is just one of the star players that has Team USA confident about its chances of winning the World Baseball Classic.
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Skubal will spend most of spring training with the Detroit Tigers as he prepares for his final season before reaching free agency. And while other teams will try to line up their best pitchers for the biggest moments of the WBC, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa will not be doing the same.
Skubal is expected to pitch once in the WBC — and even that was once more than his agent would prefer. DeRosa isn’t planning to use Skubal in an elimination game, either, but rather in pool play, before Team USA will face his stiffest competition.
For that reason, Skubal wishes the tournament were later in the year, when his arm is ready for longer, higher-intensity starts.
“Hopefully they get this tournament right to where it can be kind of a mid-season thing,” he told Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “That’s kind of the only knock I got on it. It’s just the timing for starting pitching doesn’t really work. You know, it doesn’t add up. It’s a very limited capacity of being able to go.”
Skubal, according to Nightengale, didn’t commit to Team USA until Boras, the Tigers, DeRosa, and USA pitching coach Andy Pettitte agreed to the plan of Skubal making one start and returning to the Tigers’ spring training camp.
In other words, if you want to see more of Skubal in the next WBC, don’t hold your breath.
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