THUNDER BAY – The preparations are over and the games have begun.
As play started Friday at the 2017 U18 World Baseball Cup, each team’s manager entered the 10-day tournament with high hopes, a gold medal still ringing possible in their minds – or in some cases, a target on their backs.
That’s the situation facing American manager Andy Stankiewicz, the former major leaguer who spent parts of seven seasons with the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Montreal Expos and Arizona Diamondbacks.
The United States, the three-time defending champion at the biennial event, kicks off its title defence on Friday afternoon at Baseball Central against the Netherlands, a team that missed the past two U18WBCs, going 0-4 in 2012.
Ranked No. 2 behind Japan heading into the tournament, Stankiewicz prefers to let his team’s actions on the field speak for themselves.
“It doesn’t really matter. At the end of this thing is what matters, who got a gold medal. I think our approach is to come play good baseball. If we do that well, we pitch and play good defence and put the ball in play, at the end of the week we’ll be in a good spot,” he said.
“We’re not concerned with who is ranked 1 or 2 or 3.”
Still, Stankiewicz knows the Americans are the team everyone is gunning for. After all, baseball is the American pastime.
“The guys understand that and we’ve just tried to stress to them, don’t worry about and don’t be concerned about the expectations,” he said.
“Their all really self-motivated. They’re competitive young men. They know how to motivate themselves. We just want to play good baseball. We’re skilled and we can pitch. We feel like we’re ready to compete in this tournament. Sure the expectations are there, but we want our guys to play freed up and just play ball.”
Seven years ago, the last time the U18WBC was played in Thunder Bay, the Americans were led by the likes of future major leaguers Francisco Lindor, Albert Almora, Jr. and Lance McCullers, Jr.
Stankiewicz says there’s plenty of guys on this year’s U.S. squad destined to shine at the game’s highest level.
He’s particularly thrilled with his pitching staff.
“There’s a couple of arms out here that you’re going to see that I think pro people are recognizing as possible pro prospects pretty quickly, in next year’s draft,” Stankiewicz said.
“There’s a couple of position players as well.”
Michael Siani, the team’s captain and centre-fielder, is blessed with above-average speed and raw power, according to a recent Baseball America report.
“He’s a great-looking left-handed hitter and will most likely be our leadoff guy,” Stankiewicz said.
The U.S. manager also pointed to pitcher and outfielder Jarred Kelenic as one to watch.
The Americans play Japan on Saturday at Port Arthur Stadium at 5 p.m., Mexico on Sunday (5 p.m.), South Africa on Monday (2 p.m.) and Cuba on Tuesday (6:30 p.m.), all at Baseball Central.
