The Orioles will be well-represented at next year's World Baseball Classic. Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop, Adam Jones and Hyun Soo Kim will participate in the fourth edition of the tournament this March.
Jones will play for Team USA, while Schoop, Machado and Kim will represent the Netherlands, Dominican Republic and South Korea, respectively. This will be the third straight Classic for Kim, and both Schoop and Jones competed in the last World Baseball Classic in 2013, but this will mark Machado's first appearance. The 24-year-old third baseman, who has played for Team USA before, was born in Miami but his parents are both Dominican, allowing him the option of playing for either the U.S. or the Dominican team.
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"I've always wanted to play over there. I've never gotten the chance, in Winter League, to go over there. So I think this is a little better, honestly," Machado said. "It's just something I've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to represent my country. Of course, everybody is going to say I was born here, raised here [in Miami]. But my heart and my blood is where my families came from."
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The Dominican Republic won the last installment of the global tournament in 2013. Schoop's Netherlands squad finished fourth that year, while the U.S. was eliminated in the second round. South Korea was eliminated in pool play by a run-differential tiebreaker that year.
"To put on a uniform for them, I think it's going to bring excitement -- more excitement to me and my family than anything else," Machado said. "I'm excited to wear that uniform. Seeing 'Dominican' across the chest will probably bring tears to their eyes. They are going to be excited about it. I'm going to go out there and enjoy myself as much as I can. I've always wanted to represent the Dominican Republic if the right opportunity came up and hopefully try to play."