WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - CANADA VS UNITED STATES

March 13, 2023

Merrill Kelly

Chase Field

Team United States

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Pitching the last game of pool play, especially with how the pool's sitting right now, could be pretty consequential. Is that something that you look forward to?

MERRILL KELLY: Yeah, I think for us it's always more fun when it means something rather than it means nothing. If he with had gone 3-0 and we knew we were already moving on, it's a different energy, different mindset going into that game, obviously.

But the atmosphere that was here last night with Mexico, that's why we do what we do. That's way more fun than going into the game just trying to, not necessarily get through it because we're trying to win every single game, but definitely when there's something on the line, it's way more fun.

Q. Is there any comfort level knowing you're pitching in your own home ballpark?

MERRILL KELLY: Yeah, for sure, I already know what the mound looks like. I know what the vantage point from the mount to home plate looks like. I'm comfortable in the dugout. I know where I sit. I know how to get there.

It definitely feels a little more comfortable rather than trying to navigate through a stadium that you might not ever been in on the home side.

Q. Can you talk about your journey a little bit from Korea a couple of years ago to solidifying yourself in the Diamondbacks rotation to being here with a chance to be a closer closing this thing out for you guys?

MERRILL KELLY: Yeah, I mean, if you would have asked me if I'd be sitting here when I went to Korea in 2015, I would have looked at you like you probably had five heads. When I left, I was kind of a swing man guy in Tampa, the minor leagues. Never got the shot to crack into the big league rotation like I wanted to in Tampa.

Fast-forward four years, in Korea kind of came back as a different guy. And even still, if you would have asked me 2019 if I thought I'd be sitting here I still would have looked at you like you were crazy.

To be sitting here and be in that locker room and walk in the locker room and seeing the guys that are in there every day, I remember it every single day. It reminds me when I see Mike Trout and Mookie Betts, Arenado, all the guys in there, it reminds me where I'm at. And it definitely doesn't go unnoticed for me.

Q. Plus, playing internationally is a singular experience. You've had it during the regular season. And now you have it in this tournament.

MERRILL KELLY: I think obviously that experience over there is a little different than this one just because I was obviously the odd man out over there. I was one of three foreigners in a sea full of Korean guys.

I think this experience is a little bit different just because I'm playing with my countrymen, fellow guys that are from America trying to beat the other country, rather than trying to rally together with a different culture that I'm not used to and kind of coming together as a team and a family over there.

Q. Do you remember anything about the last WBC, watching it on TV, or what the Korean reaction was to it?

MERRILL KELLY: What the Korean reaction was to it? Not necessarily the Korean reaction. I think the biggest memory I have of it was there's two plays that jump out in my mind, the time that Molina threw that guy out at second base and Javy didn't look when he tagged him; and the second one was Adam Jones robbing that homer in Petco. That one jumps out to me the most.

But I don't remember a huge reaction from my teammates or really the country in general. I don't think I paid attention to it very much because, like I said, it was never really on my radar. So I don't think there was too much of a reaction that jumped out to me over there.

Q. There's been a lot of talk this week just about the challenges in the middle of Spring Training getting pitchers to commit to doing this for Team USA. I know you were really excited to do it. What were some of the factors that you considered when you were deciding to do this?

MERRILL KELLY: Nothing really. It was a "yes" for me from the minute I heard about it. Adam Jones reached out to me I think in August of last year. Kind of put it on the radar. Asked if it was a possibility if I would be interested in it. And, like I said, I didn't really have any questions about it. As soon as I heard about it, it was definitely a "yes" for me.

Obviously different organizations feel differently about it. And there were some conversations I had with Hazen towards the end of the year to try to gauge the usage and all that stuff that teams are worried about. But for me, I didn't really have much to think about.