WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - AUSTRALIA VS CZECHIA

March 6, 2026

Martin Muzik

Tokyo Dome

Team Czechia

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Can you talk about this laser we have seen you use in practice?

MARTIN MUZIK: If you mean the laser, we got it from one of the coaches from Korea, Mr. Oh. He reached out to us and he was helping us out. It's a new thing for us, and I feel like it helps us with like decision-making swinging-wise, and also getting focused on the certain pitch and in that case, on a certain dot.

Q. According to the records, you haven't played much in the Czech extra league over the past three years. Could you share what your situation has been like since competing in 2023 WBC?

MARTIN MUZIK: Did you say I haven't played much?

Q. I check for the stats.

MARTIN MUZIK: I feel like I played -- I feel like I played all three seasons in Czech Republic, all full seasons with my home club, and it's been great. Czech baseball is getting more popular in the Czech Republic and in Europe, also. So we are glad for it, and we hope that it's going to keep going like that.

Q. How do you think this year's Czech team is different from the one three years ago in WBC? Where do you feel the team has improved the most?

MARTIN MUZIK: Yeah, I feel like we have a lot younger team than three years ago. A lot more guys that are going through college in the USA and they have experience from there.

I feel like the most we improved was our hitting because last time we were here we have you struggled with hitting velocity, and I feel like we improved that a lot. Our hitting coach helped us -- helped us out, and I feel like we are better hitters than we were before, which I think it showed yesterday against Korea when we had like eight hits in the fifth inning.

We felt pretty good, pretty confident. Unfortunately we didn't score that many runs but hopefully it's going to come.

Q. So Pavel talked about the feeling he got from the Japanese fans and how important that is. So for you, what is it look to be embraced by the country here and the fans from Japan?

MARTIN MUZIK: It's amazing. This is my fourth time in Japan, and I love coming back here. I love the fans. I love the people. I love how supportive they are towards us. And I'm always, always blessed that I can go back to Japan and enjoy the atmosphere, especially on the field.

Q. Do you have a favorite food in Japan?

MARTIN MUZIK: So I love -- I'm a big food guy. I love sushi. I love ramen. I love wagyu. And I'm going to try anything else. I've tried the raw chicken here with the soy sauce and wasabi. It was delicious.

Also, this is going to be my first time that I'm going to stay here longer after the tournament, and I'm going to go down to Kyoto and hopefully enjoy the time here. Unless we go to Miami.