What The World Baseball Classic Means For The White Sox Participants

The World Baseball Classic is going to start up in a few days and the White Sox have multiple players that will be participating. New additions Munetaka Murakami and Seranthony Dominguez will be representing Japan and the Dominican Republic, while Curtis Mead will represent team Australia. Kyle Teel and Sam Antonacci will be representing team Italy.

This is nice to see, as White Sox fans will have a chance to get a look at some of the White Sox most exciting players on the big stage. However, the one negative is that these players will be leaving Spring Training to go participate in the WBC. This could potentially have an impact on the roster construction.

In this article, we will take a look at each player participating in the WBC and how much their participation will potentially benefit or hurt their chances for the roster.

Munetaka Murakami

Murakami was an absolute beast in the Nippon Professional Baseball League over the last few years, as he had a 50+ homerun season under his belt and was the most prolific power hitter in Japan. Now, he looks to bring that power to the Southside.

Murakami will return to his prominent role on team Japan, as he was on the championship team from the last WBC. However, it does hurt to see him leave White Sox camp, as it would be nice to get him fully acclimated.

However, Murakami will still be playing against mainly MLB pitching so it should not be much of an issue. However, according to Scott Merkin, he was scratched from the lineup the other day due to general fatigue ahead of his travel to compete with team Japan. While there is nothing wrong with taking a day off, you hope that the WBC does not interfere with him getting acclimated with the team.

Nothing Murakami does in Spring Training or in the WBC will affect his chances at making the roster, but you want him getting as many reps with the White Sox as possible. Him playing isn’t much of a concern.

Seranthony Dominguez

Dominguez has been a very good major league player over his career, so his participation doesn’t really matter in terms of making the roster. However, there is some general concern when it comes to pitchers in the WBC, as one pitch can end his season.

As long as the White Sox have a directive in place to keep Dominguez healthy, his participation should not matter.

Curtis Mead

It is hard to predict whether Mead playing in the WBC will hurt or help his chances at a roster spot, as he currently is out of minor league options. So, if he did not make the team, he would be subject to a team claiming him on waivers, which a team would certainly do.

However, I would find it hard to believe that if Mead or his agent thought his spot was in jeopardy they would let him play in the WBC. So with that, I would say there isn’t a lot to lose with Mead playing in the WBC, but he could gain more by staying and putting up numbers in front of the coaching staff.

Kyle Teel

Teel playing in the WBC is awesome and he should be one of the better players on team Italy. He is on the White Sox roster no matter what, so this should be a cool experience for Teel.

Sam Antonacci

Antonacci has had an extremely impressive spring so far, so he should rake in the WBC. Due to the roster construction, there wasn’t really a chance for him to make the team out of Spring Training, so this should be a good experience for Antonacci. This shouldn’t have much of an impact for Antonacci overall.

As long as there are no long term injuries sustained by any player in the WBC that will be a win. You would hate to see someone get hurt and make players think twice about playing in the WBC in the future.