From March 8th to March 21, 2023, many baseball stars will play in the World Baseball Classic in Miami, Taiwan, Tokyo, and Phoenix. The World Baseball Classic is similar to the World Cup; chosen athletes that play professional baseball will play for their home country in a tournament with four pools of five teams each. Many big stars playing include Shohei Ohtani, a pitcher and hitter for the Los Angeles Angels and Japan. Shohei is the first to start as a hitter and pitcher.

Another big player in the World Baseball Classic is Mike Trout. Mike Trout has won MVP three times, 8 silver slugger awards, and the rookie of the year award. He is team captain of team USA. Mike Trout is a center fielder for the Angels and the United States. The Angels have a total of 10 people playing in the tournament.

While the United States has a non-debatably really good roster, the Dominican Republic’s is arguably better. The Dominican Republic has many household names that will be playing. These players include José Ramírez, Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr, and Luis Castillo. The DR is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

To keep things local, the former Razorback, Dominick Fletcher, will be a starting right fielder for team Italy in the Classic. Fletcher is currently a right fielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks who played for the Hogs 2017-2019. Dominick is the second Razorback in history to play in the World Baseball Classic.