World Baseball Classic big deal for some Braves

Much has been made of the inability of Team USA to get all of the country’s top American major leaguers to play in next month’s World Baseball Classic. But for three Braves who will play in the international tournament for the first time — Freddie Freeman, Ender Inciarte and Julio Teheran — there is nothing but excitement about the opportunity. .

Inciarte will play on a talentladen Venezuela team and Teheran for his native Colombia in its first trip to the WBC. Freeman, born and raised in Southern California, will play for Canada to honor his late mother, a Canadian who died of skin cancer when Freeman was 10. All three Braves players leave for WBC training camps around March 6.

“It was a big decision for me,” said Freeman, who got the chance to play after Canadian first baseman Joey Votto decided against it. “Obviously it means a lot to me with my mom. A lot of people don’t know my father is also Canadian, so it’s big roots for my family. And with my mom passing away when I was 10, it’s something I always wanted to do, is honor her.”

Canada and Colombia are in the four-team Miami pool along with the United States. Canada’s first game is set for March 9 against the Dominican Republic. Teheran is expected to start for Colombia in its March 10 opener against the U.S. Canada faces Colombia on March 11.

Venezuela opens pool play March 10 against Puerto Rico in Mexico in a four-team pool that includes Mexico and Italy. Braves pitcher Jaime Garcia was still considering whether to play for Mexico and another Braves rotation newcomer, Bartolo Colon, will pitch for the Dominican Republic after the first round, assuming it advances as expected.

“(The WBC) means a lot in Venezuela,” Inciarte said. “I love my country and I love my teammates from Venezuela. We want to win it all. In Venezuela we have tough fans over there and they don’t want to see us coming back to spring training (early). We want to win and hopefully we’re going to get the WBC (title).”