WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - ITALY VS CUBA

March 9, 2023

Vinnie Pasquantino

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium

Team Italy

Pregame Press Conference

Q. (No translation.)

VINNIE PASQUANTINO: First, I don't think it really affects my preparation too much getting ready for this, just because I've been preparing my off-seasons the same way for the past few years as I have again this year. So I did the same thing I did this year that I did last year. The only thing I did a little different was start maybe a week or two early to get ready for real games, so to speak, instead of Spring Training games where you're kind of in and out of the lineup and still preparing for the season.

For me it was just kind of to ramp up a little bit earlier, and then as to playing with Nicky, it's another dream come true. Played with him in the Major Leagues last year and now I'm playing with him representing the entire country of Italy, and for us, we take a great deal of pride in that, and we're really excited to get going.

Q. You seem to be having a pretty good time here with Team Italy. I saw you doing the hot dog eating contest the other day and coming to the first game, watching that as kind of a fan. How has it been being with this team? You guys seem to have a pretty good chemistry. How fun has it been playing with team Italy?

VINNIE PASQUANTINO: Yeah, I'm trying to play both sides of the coin where I'm here on business for sure, but I've never been to Taiwan before and I'm trying to take it all in. My fiance is here with me, so we're trying to take in whatever we can as far as I can still get ready to play.

For the game yesterday, it was fun. I wish we were playing yesterday because we had that extra day of not playing in a game, but it kind of feels -- it is, it's kind of like a travel tournament growing up where you see all the other teams play, you go to the games and you see what's going on, so that's exciting.

Yeah, this is a great group. It's a really good group of guys, and I think they've released a YouTube video of it, but we went to Italy last year. They brought I think it was 10 to 15 guys, something like that, and for us that was a great bonding trip. For those that went on that trip who couldn't make it to the WBC, we know they're watching from home. Hopefully they've got their alarms set early. For the guys who didn't go and are here now with us, we're just as excited to have them here.

Yeah, the chemistry is great with this group, and we feel right at home with each other, and hopefully that takes itself to the field, and we'll see what happens come 7:00 tonight.

Q. (No translation.)

VINNIE PASQUANTINO: Yeah, I definitely pay attention to what the teams around the Kansas City area are doing. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the AFC championship game this year where the chiefs played the Bengals. Shout-out to 610 Sports for making that happen for me. All those guys over there are great, Steven Spector, Cody Ingold. Yeah, those guys are great. I'm a massive New York jets fan so that's what I focus on in my off-season, so for me, I'm a Jets fan but a Chiefs fan, also. They're my No. 2 team. So yeah.

Q. I know you're very proud of your Italian heritage and roots and you participated in the Mission Classic. Can you tell us how that bonded the players and how as a result of it you have a sense of pride and you want to make Italians proud of your play on the field today?

VINNIE PASQUANTINO: Yeah, for me, I was always proud of it, but it was more because I was proud of my grandfather and the legacy that he has. Now I think I can speak for pretty much everybody; now we have a better understanding of who we are, where we come from, what our families went through to get here, however we all have showed up in Taiwan, somehow we got here and somebody was Italian that made that happen.

For us, we're super proud of the heritage, and we look forward to hopefully putting on quite the show this week, and we're doing that for all the people back home.