Dodgers News: Trea Turner Will Play for Team USA in 2023 WBC
We don’t know right now whether Trea Turner will be a Dodger next spring, but we know he’ll be teammates with Mookie Betts and Will Smith, as it was announced on Wednesday that Turner will be joining Team USA for the 2023 World Baseball Classic in March.
Trea Turner is #ALLIN for Team USA in the #WorldBaseballClassic. ?? pic.twitter.com/tgdnldbMMK
— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2022
Betts and Smith were announced as members of the team over the past week, and third-base coach Dino Ebel will fill that same role on manager Mark DeRosa’s staff. Turner gives the Dodgers three players on Team USA, pending Trea’s free-agency adventure this winter.
It’s always fun to see the best players wanting to represent their countries, and in addition to Betts and Smith, Turner joins Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and several other huge stars on Team USA. With dual-citizen Freddie Freeman slated to play for Team Canada, the top four hitters in the Los Angeles lineup will be otherwise occupied in March, which is good news for Cactus League pitchers.
Turner is batting .307 this year, second on the team behind Freeman in batting average and second in the majors behind Freeman with 161 hits. Turner and Freeman have both started every game this year and are hoping for a lengthy postseason run, but both plan to be ready for an early start in the spring for fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. The United States will be defending its title, having won the last time the tournament was played in 2017. The 2021 WBC was canceled due to the pandemic.
Turner is ALL IN; the only question left is which MLB team he’ll be representing.
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