MLB Fan Lists The Stars Playing In The WBC

The 2023 World Baseball Classic, an event organized and overseen by MLB, will begin on March 8.

That’s roughly a month from now.

Rosters will be announced on Tuesday, but we already know that many stars have decided against playing for various reasons that range from rest, workload concerns, and even travel inconveniences.

Brandon Nimmo and Nick Vespi won’t play with Italy, Kenley Jansen won’t join the Netherlands roster unless they reach the semifinals, Framber Valdez isn’t sure about playing with the Dominican Republic and Luis Severino and Luis Castillo won’t play, Carlos Correa won’t be there for Puerto Rico, Ronald Acuna Jr.‘s participation with Venezuela is a question mark, and so on.

Fans are somewhat disappointed to see so many stars backing out.

However, and truth be told, there is still a lot of star power in projected rosters.

“Understandably, fans are sad about players who withdraw from the WBC. The antidote? Here are a few who ARE playing: Trout, Ohtani, Mookie, J-Ram, Altuve, Machado, Lee Jung-hoo, Kershaw, Vladdy, Xander, Sandy, Soto, Freddie, Murakami, Lindor, Randy, Salvy, Cespedes. I promise, the WBC isn’t dead,” independent WBC reporter Shawn Spradling tweeted.

Understandably, fans are sad about players who withdraw from the WBC. The antidote? Here are a few who ARE playing:

Trout
Ohtani
Mookie
J-Ram
Altuve
Machado
Lee Jung-hoo
Kershaw
Vladdy
Xander
Sandy
Soto
Freddie
Murakami
Lindor
Randy
Salvy
Cespedes

I promise, the WBC isn’t dead.

— Shawn Spradling (@Shawn_Spradling) February 7, 2023

There you have it.

Later today, when the official rosters come out, fans will see how much talent there is to see and enjoy in the tournament.

Team USA is particularly stacked, as are the Dominican Republic (yes, even without most of their top arms), and Japan.

Watching Shohei Ohtani will be a show in itself, and South Korea, Mexico and Venezuela will also be extremely exciting to watch.

Teams are understandably wary of their star players risking their health ahead of the season, but even with that being the case, there are still plenty of quality players willing to put on a show in front of the whole world.

There will be plenty of talent in the 2023 WBC.