WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - PANAMA VS ITALY

March 11, 2023

David Fletcher

Dominic Fletcher

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium

Team Italy

Pregame Press Conference

Q. How do you feel both playing against teammates? Today you will match up against both. How do you feel?

DAVID FLETCHER: Yeah, it's always cool to play against teammates. So for me get to go play against Barría, and tomorrow some ex-teammates like Simmons is pretty cool.

Q. Also Humberto Mejía.

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, you know, this is a big game for us. We're excited to get back out there and play another game after last night. So it will be fun.

Q. It's a quick turnaround after last night's game. How are you guys feeling? Is there a way you can rally the team, rally your team left lefty feel pretty good. I think quick turnaround is good for us, just get back out here and play another game.

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, obviously a big, emotional roller coaster last night. Didn't end up in our favor, so we're excited to get back out there and have another shot at it today.

Q. I was wondering about the mustaches, I think one of you guys started, I talked to Matt Harvey and he said one of you guys started it; Dominic?

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, yeah.

Q. So how did that start? Did you grow one and say we need to do this, this is good for team morale? How did that story start?

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, our general manager, John Marco, has been rocking a 'stache for years. So I kind of hopped on board, I think the first day we got here, and then slowly, one by one, guys jumped on and it just turned into a thing.

Q. (No translation.)

DAVID FLETCHER: Yu Chang had a big game. I played against him a lot back in the U.S., but also, playing in front of those fans was a pretty unique experience. Just the constant cheering and chants was definitely fun to play in front of.

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, you don't really experience a culture like that in the States, so it was fun to get out here and see a little bit of what they do here and it was an exciting and fun game.

Q. How do you keep it loose in the clubhouse? It's a very serious game out there, but you guys both have a great sense of humor. How do you guys find a balance being in a serious situation but making light of it as well?

DAVID FLETCHER: I mean, at the end of the day it's a game and we're going to have fun. Obviously we want to win the whole thing. We want to win every game. But I think the best way to do that is to be yourself and be loose.

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, I think obviously you want to win every game, so it's just another game. We are going to play hard when we get out there, and we keep it loose. That's what we do. So we are just going to take it one game at a time.

Q. What's it like to play as brothers together on Team Italy? Have you guys played together before on teams? What's it been like being in this experience together?

DAVID FLETCHER: Yeah, our last time playing together was in high school. So pretty cool to get to do it again out here.

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, it's been a fun experience. It's been probably eight or nine years since we played together. And then to help Italy has been really special.

Q. (No translation.)

DAVID FLETCHER: What's his name again, the closer? He came in and attacked the strike zone, and seemed like he had experience closing out games. So yeah, I thought he did a good job.

DOMINIC FLETCHER: Yeah, I think he had a pretty good pitch mix going, and was throwing some pretty good splitters. So I think he had pretty good stuff.