Photographers cluttered the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium Press Room in anticipation of the arrival of three National Baseball Hall of Famers on the day prior to the start of 2023 World Baseball Classic Pool A action.
Upstairs in the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium VIP suites, Team Italy manager Mike Piazza, Kingdom of the Netherlands pitching coach Bert Blyleven and Panama spokesman Mariano Rivera were busy making and later signing clay handprint impressions so that they could be displayed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
After being escorted into the press room, an army of international reporters gathered to ask these great baseball legends what they thought about their team’s chances for success in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Once introduced, Team Italy manager Mike Piazza eloquently spoke in Italian and let everyone know how proud and honored he was to represent the home of his ancestors. The Italian skipper has spent the last four years raising his family just outside of Parma, and his understanding of the Italian language and culture has flourished just as much as international baseball ambassador’s influence on the growth and development of the game in Italy since taking over the managerial role.
Mike Piazza said, “ Obviously the national team is very, very skilled. They are very strong in the fundamentals. They may not be as strong or as big as some of the other athletes in other countries, but they compete very well. They are very drilled in fundamentals and very tough on defense.”
Piazza defended his position to enlist more pitchers on the 2023 Team Italy roster than in previous WBC editions. He remarked,” As far as the pitchers were concerned, we decided we needed flexibility, and we in the past didn't feel -- I feel we didn't take enough pitching, so we just decided that we needed to bring more arms to throw. Also, the (MLB) teams are very concerned, obviously the guys that are signed to major league teams that they are going to obviously observe and make sure that nobody gets overworked, and so we thought it would be a better strategy to just take more pitchers.”
Azzurri manager Mike Piazza also has the luxury of four versatile catchers on the roster who have experience playing utility roles. He continued, “As far as catching, we are fortunate. We have a pretty interesting team and guys that are flexible can play different positions. We have catchers that can play first base, and things like that."
Having represented Team Italy as a player n the 2006 WBC and later served as hitting coach in the 2009 and 2013 editions, Azzurri manager Mike Piazza knows the fine intricacies surrounding international competition. He concluded. "These tournaments are interesting. You have to have a strategy. Sometimes they work out. Obviously we hope ours does. I think tournament ball is different. You have to manage differently because you don't have the luxury of a season to let people work things out. It's pretty much all hands on deck, and you need everyone to be flexible and everyone to be patient and everyone to work together. It's challenging but I think we hopefully feel like we put the team together that can respond. But yeah, there's also a lot of luck involved as well. So it's also good to be lucky.”
With a little luck and blessings from above, Team Italy hopes to be victorious in its WBC debut in Taiwan against Cuba at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on Thursday, March 9, 2023. Forza #Italia!
TEAM ITALY WBC POOL A SCHEDULE
Thursday, March 9, 2023: Italy - Cuba (6 am EST)
Friday, March 10, 2023: Italy - Chinese Taipei (6 am EST)
Saturday, March 11, 2023: Panama - Italy (Friday, March 10 @11 pm EST)
Sunday, March 12, 2023: Kingdom of the Netherlands - Italy (6 am EST)
by Roberto Angotti
2023 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC NEWS
(Photo of Mike Piazza, Mariano Rivera and Bert Blyleven at the National Baseball Hall of Fame sponsored 2023 World Baseball Classic Press Conference at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 by Roberto Angotti)
