Czechs have three main goals at World Baseball Classic
Czech Baseball Association organized a press conference on Tuesday to talk to media before flying to Japan for World Baseball Classic. If you were unable to watch it live, this article will give you the highlights.
„We have three goals. First we want to have more fans and reach more people. Second, we want more children to start playing so that we have more future fans. As far as the games go, we don’t want to finish at the bottom in the group,“ responded Pavel Chadim to the first question of Jakub Stařík.
„If we consider previous week, we played 3 friendly games. There are 4 more games for us in Miyazaki. We would be happier if each batter had 50 at bats and was well prepared, but this was our only option,“ Chadim commented their preparations.
„Eric (Sogard) understands the reality of Czech baseball. He is surprised by how seriously we take baseball. That we have a professional approach, but we are not getting paid for it, and we are not just a group that’s going for a trip. This is what Eric understands. He’s every bit a professional,“ added the head coach when asked about the brightest start in Czech WBC team. He also added what he still misses in the nomination. „If we had two pitchers with Triple-A or higher experience, I would be completely happy. But we have the best available. I believe the team is well built. If everyone remains healthy, we will be happy and ready.“
„It was the most intense preparation I’ve been a part of. We spent every spare minute to prepare,“ said team captain Petr Zýma, which was seconded by universal Marek Minařík. „We all prepared individually, or if there was time, we got together and prepared this way,“ added Tempo Praha player.
Both also answered the question on what it will like playing at sold out field with loud fans. „I had an opportunity to play in Taiwan and I really like their way of cheering. They cheer non-stop, you are not even certain who they cheer for. This is how I set it up in my mind, I just believe they are our fans,“ admitted Zýma.
„Experience from USA will come in handy. I played games with several thousand fans in the stands, who cheered and cursed,“ added Minařík. „I’m looking forward to sold out crowd. Everyone’s parents will be there.“
Willie Escala, the latest addition to World Baseball Classic team, was also a part of the press conference. „I am honored to be here. It’s great to hear guys talk about baseball, about their passion for the game. I will do everything in my power to help them continue on their journey,“ said player who has Czech mother and Cuban father. And it was his mother who jokingly mentioned, he could one day play for Czech Republic.
„My mom said I could one day play for the Czech Republic. I said ‚Mom let it go, that’s not possible‘. Then I discovered it was possible,“ admitted Escala.
Czech Television, on collaboration with Czech Baseball Association, will bring 29 commented games from the tournament, aired at ČT Sport. The remainder of the games will be streamed at ČT Sport Plus.
Additionally, Jakub Stařík mentioned Czech Television will also broadcast games from 2023 European Championship, which preparation is full underway, as revealed by Lukáš Ercoli. While Ercoli travels to Japan as a player, he plans to travel the island for one more week and return in full strength to continue with the championship preparation.
