WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - MEXICO VS CANADA

March 15, 2023

Ernie Whitt

Jared Young

Chase Field

Team Canada

Pregame Press Conference

Q. How is Freddie feeling? Any update on his status from yesterday?

ERNIE WHITT: He's out of this tournament for now. The Dodgers decided that -- he's over in camp right now getting looked at by the doctors and training staff. He'll miss today's game, obviously.

Q. In 2006, when you guys beat Team USA here, knowing that today is a "win and you advance" definitely, is there added significance getting to do this at this ballpark of all places?

ERNIE WHITT: I don't even think about it. We know what we have to do. My only concern is we have one more run at the end of the ninth. That's the bottom line for us. It's win or go home, or win and advance. It's right in front of us. It's in our controls.

Q. There's some from the outside who might think that, since Great Britain gave Mexico such a great game and you beat Great Britain by a large margin, that today Mexico may not give you all that much trouble. For those who think that, we know it's not how it works, what would you say to them?

ERNIE WHITT: That's why you play the game. They're a good ball club over there. Mexico is a good ball club. Let's tip our hats to Great Britain, too. They were a scrappy team. Their defense was a little shaky, but they had speed. They put pressure on the defense.

And you've got to give Great Britain some credit for coming out. They were in every ball game. We mercied them, but, again, they jumped out to a 3-0 lead on us and it was back and forth, back and forth.

We know what's at hand. Mexico is good. We're good. We'll see what happens. That's why you play the game.

Q. Jared, during the Team USA game, you guys gave up nine in the first and then you came out in the second and you hit that home run to kind of start the frame right back off. Obviously that game did not go the way you guys wanted at all. But how do you kind of still just focus in on your at-bat? And what does that say about the young guys that you guys have on your team?

JARED YOUNG: I think in a game like that, we've seen some crazy stuff happening in this tournament. And you kind of just take it one inning at a time, and I know it sounds cliché, but one at-bat at a time.

And my job is to have a good at-bat no matter what happens on the other side of the ball. And you just try and score runs and you see what happens at the end of the game. You play nine innings and you see what the score is then. You don't really worry about it at the time.

Q. From your perspective, what's it been like to be in that clubhouse just with the amount of talent that you guys have put together for this team?

JARED YOUNG: It's amazing. There's a ton of guys you can learn from. Some veteran guys and some younger guys, and you get all their perspectives. Some really talented baseball players. If you chat and if you pick some brains, you're going to come out a better baseball player being in this.

Q. At the end of the game yesterday, you were able to sit Brash, with the way that that worked out, and hold him out for today. How about today during the middle innings, if it's close, if you're trying to hold a lead, who are some guys you imagine might be in the mix today?

ERNIE WHITT: All pitchers are available today for us. Our bullpen is okay. Taylor threw two innings for us yesterday, so I probably won't use him today. But all the other pitchers are available except the starter, of course.