The Los Angeles Angels are getting a peek at some of their young prospects with a solid group of their star talent leaving Major League Baseball Spring Training to join their respective teams in the World Baseball Classic.
Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are the headline names from the Angels taking part in the WBC, with Team USA wrapping up two exhibition games before pool play begins on March 11 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. Ohtani got the ball for Team Japan on Thursday, leading them to an 8-1 victory over Team China in their tournament opener.
Some are calling this Team USA lineup the most star-studded than ever before, mainly due to Trout taking the role of captain. Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and third baseman Nolan Arenado are among other superstars to join Trout in Pool C of the WBC.
After a six-year hiatus, the WBC is back and Trout expressed how much the event means to him and where he’s at physically, via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“I’m extremely excited to get going,” Trout said. “Just getting ramped up playing seven innings and getting four at-bats in a game yesterday. My body feels great.”
The list of MLB performers is longer than in 2017, but it’s how well they mesh together that will truly count if they want to repeat as champions. Team USA manager Mark DeRosa has plenty of options at his disposal, and with Trout at the top taking part in his first WBC, the club is in good hands:
“We have a great group, it’s kind of like an All-Star Game,” Trout said. “It’ll be pretty cool to get to know everybody, guys you don’t get to play with, spend time with them and get to know to them. I hear nothing but great things about the whole tournament. It’s going to be special. We gotta go out there and just have some fun. We got a pretty good team. But there’s a lot of great countries out there and we’ll see how it goes.”
Pool play wraps up following Team USA’s March 15 matchup against Columbia, with the quarterfinal, semifinals, and final round taking place at loanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.
Team USA World Baseball Classic pool play schedule
Group C pool play will take place at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
March 11: United States vs. Great Britain, 9 p.m. ET, Fox
March 12: United States vs. Mexico, 10 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1
March 13: United States vs. Canada, 10 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1
March 15: Colombia vs. United States, 10 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1
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