The New York Yankees are getting ready for spring training, but some of their stars are about to take part in the World Baseball Classic, meaning they will miss parts of spring training.
Notably, Aaron Judge is going to lead Team USA in the tournament, but he is not the only Yankees player participating. David Bednar, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells and more will also be participating. Some former Yankees will also be representing their nations, including Didi Gregorius.
Gregorius has not played in the big leagues since 2022 and has been playing internationally. However, the former Yankees star was seen taking batting practice at Yankees camp as he prepares to play for the Netherlands in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
Gregorius also played for the Netherlands in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Since then, he has played in Triple-A for the Seattle Mariners organization, the Mexican League, the Caribbean Series for Curaçao and Baseball United in the Middle East.
He spent 11 seasons in the big leagues and played 660 games with the Yankees. From 2015 to 1029, Gregorius was the Yankees’ starting shortstop. He had a .269/.313/.446 slash line with 97 home runs in that span. After that, he went on to sign two contracts with the Philadelphia Phillies, but was eventually released in 2022.
As he gets ready to represent the Netherlands, it seems the Yankees are allowing him to take some batting practice before they get into the full swing of spring training.
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