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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 1ST ROUND POOL B

March 10, 2017

John McLaren

Tokyo, Japan

JAPAN 7, China 1

Q. How do you feel about the contest against Team Japan for tonight?
JOHN McLAREN: I thought we competed very well. Japan is one of the better teams in the tournament. We came off a very tough loss last night. We weren't prepared and we didn't play well, and I thought we showed up tonight and showed a little character, and you know, one thing about our team, when we make an error, it's hard for us to rebound. Like they got a couple runs when we threw the ball away.

So we got a lot of things to work from, but this is a building block and I think we took another step forward.

Q. You played against Japan and personally I love your perspective. What kind of feeling do you feel? What kind of impression do you have from Team Japan?
JOHN McLAREN: Very positive. I like their manager. I like the enthusiasm of the team in the dugout. They are pulling for each other. I mentioned last night, I thought they had great chemistry, and they have got some power. They have got some really nice arms. Out of the bullpen, they can match up with good major league hitters, so I wish them well and I'm looking forward to seeing them move on in the tournament.

Q. For Team China 2017 is done. Overall, what kind of tournament was it for Team China?
JOHN McLAREN: We didn't hit very well. We had some challenges pitching. The starter that was supposed to start tonight had a hurt arm, couldn't pitch. Bruce Chen was not here tonight. He had flu-type symptoms.

But I take a positive out of this tournament that we competed against one of the best teams in the world -- two of the best teams in the world, Cuba and Japan, and Australia had a very good team, too. So this was not an easy bracket and we're going to move forward and use this as a positive experience.

Q. You've been a manager for Team China for awhile. What kind of message do you send for the future of Team China?
JOHN McLAREN: I told them I was proud of them. I thought that for us to get better in world competition, we need to get stronger and they need to work hard to make their body stronger. We have to learn how to pitch better. We need to learn to throw a different pitch besides the fastball and fastball counts.

And like I said, we're moving forward. It's a slow process, we have a long way to go but we're trying to set a foundation for these kids to move forward, and this tournament, there's three of the guys that are finished playing baseball.

Lee Chang played his last game. He's going to take over development for MLB in China. He'll do a great job.

Wang Wei, our catcher who has been a mainstay behind the plate for many years, he played his last game. Unfortunately he got hit tonight.

And Chen Kun, this is his fourth World Baseball Classic. I think he's only one of two pitchers that have pitched in all four, along with Oh in Korea.

China Professional League which is going to help us. He's a very intelligent man. So I want to congratulate these guys on a great career in China, and they will all be helping us. Wang Wei is going to be a coach and manager in China.

We're passing on to teach our young players what some of our players that have played with China a long time.

Q. You mentioned that you had a tough time hitting. Do you think it was just experience, because they are not used to seeing the kind of pitching of Cuba, Japan and Australia? Is it just experience that helps that get better?
JOHN McLAREN: That's one thing we need to improve on is to build our pitchers, get them stronger so they can throw harder. And our hitters don't see hard-throwing pitchers because we don't have any, so when they come to a big tournament, when they face teams like Japan, they can't handle the good velocity. They are used to hitting pitches up in the strike zone in their country, because they are throwing 80, and up here they are throwing 92 plus, so they can't get that pitch.

It's an experience thing, No. 1, and we have to get better building arms up in China and getting used to -- we did some things. We put the pitching machine and turned it up to try to help us to get ready for this tournament, but it's not the same thing as facing live pitching.

Q. Talking about MLB, they have an office in China and they are trying to develop baseball in China. From now on, what is the possibility for baseball in China as part of the Major League Baseball organization? How do you feel about it?
JOHN McLAREN: We had three players on our team from the DC programs in China. Major League Baseball invests a lot of money to try to build up the baseball program. We sent American coaches over. I've been over myself twice.

We're going down the right path. It's just going to take time. We need to get our players stronger, like I talked about. And I think we talked about it the other day, I did; is they don't show baseball games on TV in China.

So now they are going to start showing baseball games on TV in China, so maybe we can get our young players, young kids that want to play baseball like they do in Japan. The young kid, they watched Ichiro and Matsui and Ohtani and all these players in the United States, and here in Japan, and they want to be like these guys.

So if we start showing games in China, MLB does, some of our young kids will get interested in baseball and we'll get more kids playing baseball.

Q. What are you planning to do? Are you planning to be a manager for awhile? What's your next plan personally, if you know?
JOHN McLAREN: I'll be getting on a plane tomorrow to go to spring training with the Philadelphia Phillies. I coach with the Phillies, they are waiting for me to come back. I thank them for letting me participate in this tournament. This is my third one and I totally enjoy it. But I'm going back to Florida for spring training.

Q. A while ago, you said that you see a couple of Major League Baseball-level players on Team Japan's roster. Who are these, please, if you can name some?
JOHN McLAREN: I'm not very good at their names. I like the second baseman. I like the left fielder. Several of their pitchers, they came in the bullpen, I was really impressed with.

I like this Ohtani guy, too. I saw him in Arizona last year, so I like him, too.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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