They're all hungry to reach the next level, and their manager Mike Scioscia hopes to tap into that hunger over the next week. The rest of the 24-man team is made up of minor leaguers, though 14 members of the team have made it up to the Show for a cup of coffee at least. "To be able to represent my country in the Olympics, it's something that you dream about as a kid."
#T. frazier olympic games tokyo 2020 pro#
I needed to get a lot of reps to get back in the swing of things in pro ball, and I feel like that set me up pretty well for this opportunity that I have now. "I still kept that in the back of my head, knowing that I would love the opportunity. I kept that in the back of my head and kept at it," Kazmir said two weeks ago as the team gathered at the USA Baseball complex in Cary, North Carolina. "I was retired and happy one year ago, but I thought about it last year and when the Olympics got postponed.
In reality, he always had one eye looking at Tokyo. When he started a push to pitch again, most assumed the focus was on an MLB comeback. Making that call had been in the back of his mind since summer 2020, when during a simple game of catch with Seattle Mariners pitcher Kendall Graveman, Kazmir sensed he still had some pop in an arm that hadn't seen action since 2016. With Triple-A Sacramento, he rediscovered his groove and immediately called USA Baseball. After two weeks and three appearances, the Giants designated Kazmir for assignment. Kazmir started this season with the San Francisco Giants, the first time the 37-year-old had appeared in a big-league game in five years.
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The night after he left for pre-Olympic training camp, some Miners got into a brawl with fans who poured beer on them during a hot dog eating contest ("Got out of there in the nick of time.") He's joined by hurlers Edwin Jackson, who threw a no-hitter for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010, David Robertson, who won a World Series in 2009 and the World Baseball Classic in 2017 and ageless lefty Scott Kazmir. That list includes four former MLB All-Stars, including infielder Todd "The Toddfather" Frazier, who last pitched for his hometown team, the independent Sussex County Miners of the Frontier League.
Team USA, which has posted back-to-back wins against Israel and South Korea in the opening round of the Olympic tournament, consists of an even 12 pitchers and 12 position players. "I never heard of half of these guys, and the ones I do know are way past their prime."Īnd like the fictional Cleveland team of the silver screen, this lineup of seeming has-beens and not-yets is an easy group to support, representing the United States for baseball's return to the Olympics from a 13-year absence. Any hardcore hardball fan who has perused the rosters of the six Olympic baseball teams competing in Tokyo, particularly USA Baseball, has probably felt more than a little like the characters in the 1989 cinematic classic "Major League."
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