WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D

March 5, 2026

Andruw Jones

LoanDepot Park

Team Netherlands

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. You've been part of WBCs in the past, been part of the staff. Your experience coaching in the WBC, how will that affect how you manage this tournament?

ANDRUW JONES: It's never going to change. I think I've said this before: We're all coaches. We're here to help the guys, put them in the right spot to win and succeed. The manager's job is just trying to maintain everybody together and do the media and stuff like that. But after that, we're all coaches, and we're just trying to get our guys prepared for the game.

Q. I was talking to Druw during batting practice and he said this is the first time you're actually a coach for him. What does it mean to you to be able to coach your son at this big of a stage?

ANDRUW JONES: It's awesome. Like I say, I never coached him as a youth baseball player. This is a great honor. This is good for him to represent the country that I come from, just like everybody else. Like Dominican players that have guys that were born in the United States and represent their family's country.

It's awesome. I think the experience is always big. I like to see a lot of young guys come out here and experience this because this kind of changes their career-wise of how to get started playing big games early in their career. Nobody wants to go out there and play nine innings in Spring Training. So they're still in Spring Training, but they're playing real games. So I always love young guys to come out so we can see what they've got.

Q. The game on Saturday against Nicaragua. Nicaragua is being coached by Dusty Baker. What pitcher have you designated to face Nicaragua, and what do you know about the team?

ANDRUW JONES: I'm not thinking about Saturday. I'm thinking about Friday. We have to win the first game, and after that we can speak about the second game. Right now I can tell you that we have Kelly that is going to pitch against Nicaragua.

I know three or four players from the Nicaraguan team. When I receive the roster, I'm going to take a look at each player. Like I used to say, all the teams are here for a reason, and that's because they are good teams. But baseball is a round ball. You can have some surprises. The team that is going to make less errors is going to win.

We have to take advantage of all the opportunities.

Q. You've faced many times Dusty as a player. What can you say about his decision to come back and to coach Nicaragua?

ANDRUW JONES: This is great for Nicaragua. He's a veteran player. He understands Spanish, and he can coach players so that they are able to win. I know him very well. We have been friends for a long time, just like Pujols from the DR. I played against Pujols many times, and we are good friends. The same goes for the Israel team. Ausmus, I played against him many times.

Like I said, this is a huge stage. This is a huge tournament, and we are all representing our countries. The team that plays the best is going to win.

Q. How emotional is it to be with your son? It's not too easy because you are a father and he's your son. Sometimes there are difficult emotions in that. In 2024 you were highlighted or celebrated in the Caribbean, in the Hall of Fame, and now in the majors. How important is that for you? You are going to play against Albert now; how is this experience? This is a game not only on the field but off the field.

ANDRUW JONES: I have no problem coaching him because he called me Coach all the time. So if he doesn't do the job, he's probably going to be sitting next to me to watching the game. Right now he's playing. And I treat everybody the same thing, even if it's my son or not my son. I care about every single person in that locker room because we picked them because we believe in them.

I think for them just to believe in themselves so they can go out there and perform at a high level.

For the second question, like I said before, there are many Latino players with great numbers, and they all deserve to be in the Hall of Fame in 2026 now with the National League baseball in the Hall of Fame. When I played baseball, I didn't think about being in the Hall of Fame. I just wanted to help my team win, win championships. When you do that in a consistent way and you have good numbers, they can speak about the Hall of Fame.

But right now, when they called me, that was very emotional for me, a very emotional moment. But after that, I didn't think a lot about that because life gets on, and it's another day.

This is going to be a very special moment, though.

Q. You chose 17 pitchers; why is that?

ANDRUW JONES: Yeah, there's so many restrictions. These guys are still in Spring Training. Their ballclub wants them to go on the restriction that they want. Some guys can only throw 25 pitches and they have to be two days' rest. I always wanted to go with a lot pitchers because in these small tournaments, pitchers are the ones that are going to change the game.

The guys are going to hit, they're going to do this and that, but the pitching is the problem always. Because, like I say, always -- and I can say this for a long time because everybody knows what kind of player I am. I always play defense the way it should be played. And I think if you pitch good, play good defense, you have a good chance to win the game 1-0 and if you have a good pitching staff.

Q. Do you understand the rules of pitching, 30 balls and you need rest the next day?

ANDRUW JONES: We have all the rules.

Q. Do you understand the rules?

ANDRUW JONES: Do I understand the rules? Yeah, of course I understand the rules.

Q. Do you like the rules?

ANDRUW JONES: Well, there's nothing I can do about it, to be honest with you. If the tournament happened in November, I think we wouldn't have those rules. But because it's early and every team, they're still in Spring Training, they're going to come up with those rules like that so you have to respect it.

At the end of the day, some of these guys have how many pitches they can go, and we just have to make adjustments and make it work. That's why I have 17 of them.

Q. The preparation, the issues with Schoop and Profar, they have a lot of friends in your team. Is it difficult for a manager to manage that?

ANDRUW JONES: No, nothing wrong, to be honest with you. Those changes didn't happen. A lot of times people just don't know about it. There's just so many things. You can't control this. We put the team because we think this is the team that we have. And everybody that I have in that room, it's their problem, it's not our problem. Our goal is not going to change by winning this tournament. We treat it like they just got hurt. They just got hurt so they're not on the roster, so somebody else is going to step up.

Q. But it's the impact to the team down big, you should do something --

ANDRUW JONES: If they impact? Not at all. These guys are grown. They're not kids. They've been playing professional baseball. Things happen to them all the time in the regular season. Some guys get hurt, they get in trouble. You just move on. You can't drag yourself on accidents that happen off the field or on the field because that's a part of the game.

You just don't know. Somebody can go out there and blow an arm and we lose him. Are we going to be sad about it? Yes, we'll be sad, disappointed. But we cannot drag our feet. We have to look forward because the plan of this tournament is to win it, and we can't have anything bother you or anything like that because if you let it bother you, you shouldn't be here.

Q. Your career as a coach in this WBC, what are you bringing from Bobby Cox as far as lessons to this experience?

ANDRUW JONES: Well, right now there are so many rules, so we cannot do many things that we could do. However, there is a gentleman that I respect a lot. He was like my father to me. He gave me confidence to be the player that I am today. It's an honor to represent him.