WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: QUARTERFINALS - ITALY VS JAPAN

March 16, 2023

Mike Piazza

Tokyo Dome

Team Italy

Pregame Press Conference

Q. It's all about the quarterfinal, we have less than two hours to go, what's in your mind going into such a big game?

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, I spoke to our team yesterday, and I believe that they are professionals, and they are going to do the best they can. But I also told them to try to enjoy it as well.

It's a big game. There's going to be a lot of excitement and a lot of energy and a lot of passion. It's going to be a difficult place to play tonight but I said to enjoy it as well, enjoy the experience, as I did in Taipei.

So hopefully they relax and execute and make good decisions, good baseball decisions. We don't want to get beat with mistakes. We'd rather have the other team beat us with their performance not by our lack of performance. So that's our goal for tonight is to play a good, tight baseball game, good defense, good pitching and hopefully timely hitting.

Q. Let's talk about the lacking of mistakes, especially for the defense. Who is the key person on your team?

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, we were able to turn a lot of double plays in Taichung in our bracket. They are all key to me. I think all of them are very good defenders. They catch the ball. Fletcher obviously made a great catch. David is a great fielder as well. Nicky can field the ball. He has a great arm. And even Sully, our catcher, has played very well to me and looks like a major league catcher the way he's been calling the game, blocking pitches and controlling the defense as well.

So we have a team, DeLuzio in center field can run and he can go get the ball. And I believe in this defense. I believe if they hit the ball, we are going to catch it.

Q. What's your impression of Team Japan, as well as the team manager, Hideki Kuriyama?

MIKE PIAZZA: They are a good team and they have some very good hitters. We feel we are prepared, though. We feel that even though they have a very solid lineup, good hitters from the top to the bottom of the lineup, if you make good pitches in the right situations, I know as a hitter that you can get anybody out. And if you fall behind and you're throwing balls and you're struggling to throw strikes, then you create a situation where it's more advantageous for their hitters.

We don't want to do that. We want to try to pitch ahead, expand the strike zone when we can and again, also have a little luck. You need luck in baseball as well. I believe if you prepare and do the right things, you start to get better breaks. You start to get a little more lucky.

But if you make mistakes, if you're lethargic and you're throwing balls and the pace of the game isn't good, then you're hoping to be successful, and that's not a good strategy.

Q. Throughout tonight's contest against Team Japan, all of the Italian nation is cheering and wishing you luck. What's the message you would like to bring and send to the people in Italy?

MIKE PIAZZA: I would say that this team in my opinion has the heart of Italy, the great passion that Italy has, and the respect for tradition and heritage, and that's one thing I am really impressed with these guys. Every one of these guys, my guys on the team, wanted to play for Italy and wanted to honor the land where their fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers and mothers, for that matter, came. This is a tribute to them.

But we also want to grow the became back in Italy and encourage more Italian players, and I feel that this is the perfect opportunity to do that by bridging the new with the old country and then growing new players, because ultimately it comes down to culture. I mean, baseball is a culture. You know in Japan the great players here play when they are very small, and unfortunately in Italy, it's still a niche sport. People know it, but we could do better.

So I hope that this is an opportunity that we will grow the game worldwide, and as I said, I hope Major League Baseball invests more money back in Italy and one day we will have a major league game there. It's going to take time but I hope that happens.

Q. There's a new addition to the field that everybody is excited about. There's a new espresso machine in the dugout. Can you explain how you got that?

MIKE PIAZZA: -- on our journey here, we had difficulties from day one, but he's here and excited. I had a nice talk with him.

Yeah, we had to scarf up some equipment for him because his baggage didn't make it, but that's what baseball is about. It's about being resilient and executing not under the best condition.

Yeah, the espresso machine is funny. It's great. I'm glad people are enjoying it. Unfortunately, well for me, the manager has to get one machine, I know that. So I'm going to be taking that home but you know, we are honored.

And it really came -- I think people enjoy it because it came organically. We didn't really think about it. This is what we do. We are Italians, and living in Italy, it's just part of the culture. That's one of the things we decided when we are coming is who has got the espresso machine.

I'm excited. It's funny. I think it's great. I think people enjoy those little funny moments about this tournament. Maybe if we get to Miami, we'll have a real barista in the dugout with a copper and steel machine knocking down shots in ceramic cups, not in the paper cups. Because I have some Italian -- my friends have told me (speaking in Italian accent), "You do not drink cafe from a paper cup." They are very disappointed in us about that.

Q. Team chemistry seems to be great, ever since Taiwan, the espresso machines, the mustaches, team dinners. How important is that in a tournament like that to have that team chemistry and bonding to keep winning games?

MIKE PIAZZA: I believe it's very important because you want to create an atmosphere where guys just don't want to go home, and that to me -- or go back to camp, I should say; the guys that are playing. It just seems the main guys that are here that have been feeling this energy and this emotion just want to keep it going, and that's what you try to do.

I said to Blake the other day. I said, "I really feel I could take this team to the big leagues right now." We'd have to add a few guys here and there but ultimately, you want a team like this. They have a lot of heart, a lot of passion. We have fun together. We enjoy each other.

And I've got to give John Marco Ferroni, our team coordinator, all the credit because we came up with that idea of the mission last year and getting everyone to know each other. And again, regardless of what happens tonight, I don't want this to be a one-off thing. We want to create a relationship that these guys will feel free to come back to Italy at any time. We need to grow coaches, grow players, grow interest, clinics, all over the country and encourage Italian kids that they can be major leaguers.

It's not just a bunch of guys that got together and wanted to have fun in a tournament. It's about trying to create a moment and grow this game worldwide because for me, this game has given me everything in my life: My family, obviously great fortune, notoriety. I'm very blessed. It's the small gift that I want to do in my life that I have reconnected with Italy, and hopefully as I said -- we understand, you have to be realistic, but that's what we want to do.

We want to create a culture. Baseball came to Japan not a thousand years ago, and you see what the culture is here. It takes time but we know it can be done.