SARASOTA, Fla. — Before he leaves for the World Baseball Classic, Manny Machado is making the most of his short time at Baltimore Orioles camp.
Machado, who was born in Miami, will play shortstop for the Dominican Republic in next month's WBC, and with the Orioles' everyday shortstop J.J. Hardy injured, he's getting to play as much short as he wants before his March 5 departure. He estimates he'll play six or seven spring training games before the WBC.
"I'm probably going to be playing 162 this year," Machado said. "Just monitoring it, don't exaggerate it, don't over-do it.