Dodgers’ Alex Vesia Got Snubbed From Team USA WBC Role
Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia revealed that certainly one of his long-time objectives, to pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classicby no means materialized, regardless of his expressed curiosity.
Vesia has been the Dodgers’ greatest reduction pitcher to begin the season, among the best total in MLB.
Since becoming a member of the Dodgers, he has been dependable for supervisor Dave Roberts and utilized in quite a lot of leverage roles.
While his velocity has dropped, Vesia stays efficient with distinctive pitch shapes and an aggressive strategy that entails throwing strikes.
Vesia, by Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Registerstated that he expressed to Team USA.
“I’ve been telling them for the last two years, ‘I want to play. I want to play. I want to play,’” Vesia stated. “Team USA was always such a cool concept. I was never good enough to even come close, trying out for 10-U (10-and-under teams), 12-U, 15-U, whatever. I just would have loved to have played for Team USA. It just never worked out.”
Vesia rejected a smaller position in Team USA
The southpaw was provided a reserve position, however he was intent on both committing to a full spot or just strolling away from the chance.
“They just pretty much said I was going to be a backup if anything. That was pretty much it,” he stated. “Talking with my dad and with Kay (his wife), I was just, ‘We have too much riding on this season to be 50/50. Either I’m all in or I’m all out.’ “We ended up making the decision that I was out.”
Team USA ended up going with Clayton KershawGarrett Cleavinger, and Gabe Speier for their left-handed options.
As for Vesia, he prepared as he usually does for the upcoming MLB season to help the Dodgers achieve their three-peat.
“The way I go about my business from the start of spring training to the first game of the season, having the WBC in the middle would have been a factor and it would have dictated how we went about certain things,” Vesia added.
“With the way I felt coming into spring training and into spring training games and now this first month of the season, I think I made the right decision.”
Vesia has pitched in 10 games and has a total of 8.2 innings heading into Thursday’s game against the San Francisco Giants.
He has yet to allow a run, has a 0.3 fWAR, and a 1.87 FIP, showing that he is as effective as his gaudy counting statistics indicate.
Team USA lost the WBC final, and while it is hard to know how well they could have done with a reliable arm like Vesia in the mix, their start to the 2026 season suggests they may have missed out on one.
