Los Angeles Dodgers star nearer Edwin Diaz has some enterprise to handle earlier than Opening Day.
Diaz is suiting up for Group Puerto Rico within the World Baseball Traditional, and never solely is he making an attempt to symbolize his homeland, he’s doing so after getting back from an enormous damage.
In 2023, celebrating a game-ending strikeout of now-teammate Teoscar Hernandez, he ruptured the patellar tendon in his proper knee, ending his season.
Three years later, he’s again for an additional WBC, and Diaz instructed The Athletic‘s Katie Woo that he needed to symbolize his homeland once more, particularly as a result of Puerto Rico is internet hosting WBC video games, permitting him to pitch in Puerto Rico as a professional for the primary time ever.
“As quickly as I noticed (Puerto Rico can be internet hosting), I knew my purpose was to play within the WBC,” Díaz mentioned.
He’s conscious that what occurred in 2023 was the kind of state of affairs that offers MLB groups nightmares, however that gained’t cease him.
“I’ve just one response for that,” Díaz mentioned. “I didn’t get harm pitching. It was after the sport. That might have occurred to me anyplace. If I acquired harm pitching, it’s completely different. However I used to be simply making an attempt to have a good time.”
Dodger Kike Hernandez, who’s now an MLB teammate with Diaz however who additionally performed for the Group Puerto Rico squad in 2023, mentioned he would’ve understood if Diaz hadn’t needed to take part within the WBC this 12 months.
That mentioned, he added that he “wasn’t shocked, as a result of it was a freak damage, that he was keen to do it once more.”
“He’s risking rather a lot by taking part in within the event, particularly given what occurred within the earlier one,” Hernandez mentioned. “However as a fellow Puerto Rican, these video games simply imply a lot to us, with the ability to put on that uniform.”
A number of Dodgers to Play in WBC
Diaz isn’t alone in taking part in within the WBC, with stars like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto competing for Japan and catcher Will Smith and former Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw taking part in for the U.S.
The primary recreation is Wednesday night time, and a number of the matchups shall be accessible even and not using a cable subscription. Click on right here to see which video games shall be accessible.
