Mark DeRosa owns 'overly confident'
WBC remark before Team USA's loss to Italy
[March 13, 2026]
HOUSTON (AP) — Manager Mark DeRosa says his premature comment about
the United States having already punched its ticket to the World
Baseball Classic quarterfinals before facing Italy was just an
“overly confident statement” and reiterated Thursday he knew nothing
was guaranteed at that point.
DeRosa had made that remark on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” before the
8-6 loss to Italy on Tuesday that caused the U.S. to lose control of
its WBC fate. The U.S. still advanced to a Friday quarterfinal
matchup with Canada thanks to Italy’s 9-1 win over Mexico on
Wednesday.
“It’s just an overly confident statement on ‘Hot Stove,’ period, the
end,” DeRosa said. “And it’s my fault. I felt good about where we
were after Mexico.”
DeRosa also talked about the fresh start the star-studded U.S. team
has now that its loss to Italy didn’t prove fatal to its title
hopes.
“New lease on life for the boys, certainly,” he said. “I put
ourselves in a tough spot. Tip our hat to Vinnie Pasquantino and
Italy, truly. Went into that game a little overly confident and got
a huge wake-up call.”
DeRosa’s comment prior to the Italy game garnered plenty of scrutiny
after that loss, particularly since he had kept usual starters Bryce
Harper, Cal Raleigh, Alex Bregman, Brice Turang and Byron Buxton out
of his starting lineup. The U.S. needed to beat Italy to guarantee a
spot in the quarterfinals. Losing left it subject to a series of
tiebreakers, pending the result of Wednesday's Italy-Mexico game.
He explained those decisions Thursday. DeRosa said he wanted to give
starts to Ernie Clement and Paul Goldschmidt because they could end
up playing major roles off the bench at some point. He also said he
was limited in which pitchers he could use because of “guardrails”
set by MLB teams, who typically restrict how much their players
throw at the WBC due to injury concerns.
“When I looked at the lineup, I felt confident going in – bottom
line,” DeRosa said. “I mean, I also look at it from a player’s
perspective. Like, Bryce Harper was struggling a little bit. I know
it’s three games, but from the dugout – I played with him for a long
time – so it’s like, ‘OK, maybe we get him off his feet a day. We
get Goldy in there. We allow (Harper) to work with Sean Casey, Matt
Holliday, maybe something clicks. And we get him right back in there
and going.'”
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United States manager Mark DeRosa adjusts his baseball cap prior to
an exhibition baseball game against the Colorado Rockies Wednesday,
March 4, 2026, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
DeRosa also had mentioned before Tuesday’s games
that some of the U.S. players were “dragging.” The team buses had
left later than usual after a Monday night victory over Mexico as
players stayed in the locker room celebrating the win.
“Listen, us hanging out in a clubhouse is
everything I ever dreamed of creating,” DeRosa said. “You’ve got to
buy into this thing super quick and try and create a team. For those
players to invite the coaches in and for us to spend time together
and enjoy a huge win that we hadn’t had in 20 years was something
that, I looked around the room and it was super special to me.
“We did not lose sight of the fact that we had to go out and play
well against Italy. They played a hell of a game. They smacked us in
the mouth early. They got up big. We went into that game prepared to
win it. I think there’s a couple false narratives out there. But,
no, I was well aware that we had to win that game based on all the
scenarios that could take place.”
The U.S. is making some changes to its pitching staff heading out of
pool play and into the quarterfinals.
Lefty Tim Hill and right-handers Will Vest and Tyler Rogers are
stepping in for two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, Michael
Wacha and Ryan Yarbrough. DeRosa said left-hander Matthew Boyd also
has left the U.S. team to return to the Chicago Cubs’
spring-training camp.
“And I completely understand that,” DeRosa said. “There’s a lot of
pressure from the parent clubs to get these guys ramped up for the
start of the season.
"If he’s going to be the opening day starter for the Cubs, we had to
guarantee him innings — the game’s got to dictate now. Pool play is
a different animal. Trying to weave our way through it from a
pitching standpoint, all bets are off now.”
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