Marlins' Jazz Chisholm to Play for Great Britain in 2023 WBC
Miami Marlins infeilder Jazz Chisholm announced on Wednesday that he would be representing Great Britain at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
It will be his first game action since June, when the 24-year-old was sidelined with a stress fracture in his back, an injury that has ended his season.
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"I thought I would've been back in like a month or a couple of weeks, honestly, probably two or three weeks," he told reporters last week regarding the injury. "I thought I was going to be back in time for the All-Star Game, until it just didn't go that way. I got the news I had a stress fracture, and that it won't heal properly, and just had to go with that."
Chisholm was voted into the Midsummer Classic as a starter by fans after hitting .254 with 14 homers, 45 RBI, 39 runs, 12 stolen bases and a .860 OPS across 60 games. He was on pace to put together a fantastic season, though it officially came to an end last week.
"We could probably push Jazz to be able to come back and DH or something," Marlins manager Don Mattingly told reporters. "I think the risk/reward on thatโhe has a stress fracture in his back. It's something you could say, 'Well, it's healed, but is it all the way?' It just doesn't seem to be worth it. I think Jazz would like to play, he would like to have played. I think the organization basically made that decision for him, that we were going to just let this thing go, keep strengthening all year long, so we know going into the winter that he's healthy, he's ready, he's doing everything, he feels great. So again, I think an organizational decision."
It wasn't the only injury Chisholm dealt with this season:
As for representing Great Britain, Chisholm was born in The Bahamas and is eligible to feature for the country since it was a former British colony. He also represented Great Britain during the World Baseball Classic qualifiers in 2017.
Great Britain qualified for the WBC for the first time ever this past week. And now they'll have a legitimate MLB superstar leading them in that maiden voyage.
