WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - ITALY VS CUBA

March 9, 2023

Mike Piazza

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium

Team Italy

Pregame Press Conference

Q. (No translation.)

MIKE PIAZZA: Of course we expect Chinese Taipei to be tough at home. Anybody can have a tough night. That's this game of baseball. It's not always difficult, but I always believe that you never underestimate your opponent. You always have to go out there and play with the understanding that they do have a lot to play for. They have a lot of pride. We expect them to play well.

As I mentioned the other day, I believe they're very fundamentally sound team. I believe that they may not have the size or the pure strength of some of the players on other teams or the United States, but they make up for it in fundamentals, discipline, control with the pitching, and they're always tough.

In a tournament like this, anything can happen. You can never take anything for granted. I mean, I told my guys before the game, it's four games, and we can't really worry about also the other results of the other games. I think you have to go out that day and win your game that night, and hopefully at the end of the tournament we are one of the top two.

Q. (No translation.)

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, the first part about Harvey, obviously he has experience. He's pitched in the World Series, so that's big. He made an incredible effort to want to be part of this team because, as I mentioned, he doesn't necessarily have an Italian name, but his mother's name is Vendite, and his family roots are from outside of Rome close to Frosinone. I was surprised and excited that he was Italian and we were able to do his lineage and make him eligible for the team.

I think it's going to be good for him. I think how could you not have excitement and adrenaline in this tournament. So we're expecting hopefully a good tournament from him. We need him to get us off to a good start.

As far as Joe, Joe was fortunate and worked with our team coordinator, John Marco Farone. They worked together in China. When we were putting our staff together, John Marco thought it would be a good idea to incorporate Joe because obviously being from Taiwan and knowing the league and knowing the country, and he's been amazing. He's come right in, and we consider him an honorary Italian. He's making everyone feel comfortable. We knew this was going to be a difficult trip, just culturally and travel-wise, but he's been great. So we're honored to have him, and he's already made great contributions, so hopefully we can hopefully bring him back to the United States.

Q. Anything with today's Cuba matchup? Guys your worried about in their lineup? They have a pretty strong lineup, pretty strong top 5. Anybody you've kind of looked at, deciding how to pitch to them in tonight's game?

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, obviously they have some veterans of international baseball, and obviously Céspedes has played in the Major Leagues. Look, they know how to play the game. They are maybe on the free-swinging side as far as aggressive hitting, but they know the strike zone.

It's a team you can never underestimate. They have some good arms coming out of the pen. I think the starter tonight, I forgot his name actually -- Elias, yeah, throws well. Yeah, they have a strong tradition. I don't know if you can ever go into a game with Cuba and take them lightly. Especially tonight, they want to come out, their back's against the wall a little bit, so they either have to -- they know what they have to do because if you go down two games, it's not going to be easy to go forward.

But I mean, look, we've done our homework. Guys are familiar with some of the players.

Yeah, it is what it is. I think basically you can never take them lightly, and they have a lot of style. I really enjoy their style. I think they have a lot of flair, and as I've said, a long tradition. So they're always going to be tough. It's a team that can get hot, so we have to make really quality pitches to them.

Q. (No translation.)

MIKE PIAZZA: Well, we hope so. Knowing that Netherlands have played twice before we've even played once is not the ideal situation, but it's what we have to deal with. Yes, we were able to observe some games, and scouting is important, but ultimately it comes down to execution on the field.

I was a player that was able to hit that right combination. I don't think you can overly rely so much on scouting. You have to go out and you have to execute and make good pitches.

We hope we strive for that balance, but yeah, it was always -- this was a tough trip for us, but we're here, and we're excited. We're just going to play and hopefully play together as a team.