PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Pirates lefty Jared Lakind suited up for the Dominican Republic, pitching against the Pirates during Wednesday’s exhibition game. On Thursday morning he was packing his bags, preparing for the 17-hour trip to Tokyo to join team Israel in the World Baseball Classic.
“First Dominican Jew,” Lakind joked.
Israel went 3-0 in pool play and advanced to the round-robin portion, so they summoned Lakind, a reserve who was in the designated player pool.
“I didn’t go to the first round because my priority was here with the Pirates,” said Lakind, who turned 25 Thursday. “I wanted to do my best, and with my first big-league camp, didn’t want to leave too early. I told them back a couple months ago, if they make it to the second round, I would love to.”
Lakind spent all of last season in the Class AA Altoona bullpen, where he had a 2.59 ERA in 47 games and struck out 62 batters in 66 innings. He spoke Wednesdsay with manager Clint Hurdle and GM Neal Huntington, who were very supportive.
“Just playing with the qualifier, just knowing the guys, I knew we had a really good team that nobody knew about,” Lakind said. “We’re hitting on all cylinders right now, it seems like. Just to go back with the guys and build off it with them is pretty exciting.”
Lakind, who was born in Cypress, Texas, qualifies for Israel by being eligible to become a citizen of Israel. He noted the importance of the national team’s success for the game back in Israel.”
“Just from winning the qualifier, putting them on the map, you could see how grateful they were,” he said. “We just thought we won a couple games. To them it meant more funding for the state of Israel, for baseball. Baseball’s not big over there. They’ve got two baseball fields and the balls they use look like they’re chewed by dogs. Just to have more funding over there and try to get baseball more into the youth … we don’t see it, but over there it’s going to great lengths.”
PIRATES
1. Adam Frazier (L) SS
2. Alen Hanson (S) 3B
3. Phil Gosselin 2B
4. Jose Osuna 1B
5. Elias Diaz C
6. Danny Ortiz (L) RF
7. Chris Bostick CF
8. Barrett Barnes LF
9. Chad Kuhl RHP
RAYS
1. Logan Morrison (L) DH
2. Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF
3. Brad Miller (L) SS
4. Corey Dickerson (L) LF
5. Tim Beckham RF
6. Nick Franklin (S) 2B
7. Casey Gillaspie (S) 1B
8. Luke Maile C
9. Patrick Leonard 3B
Blake Snell LHP
First Published: March 9, 2017, 5:48 p.m.
