MESA, Ariz. -- A's right-hander Liam Hendriks has elected out of the World Baseball Classic, foregoing a trip to Tokyo with Team Australia in favor of remaining in Arizona.
Hendriks is healthy, but the prospect of making a pair of 15-hour flights within one week and having to immediately return to the mound for the A's in tiptop form proved disconcerting for the 28-year-old reliever.
"I've been wanting to go in my heart as soon as it came out, but when I really sat down and thought about it, I'm not quite where I want to be in competitive games yet," Hendriks said Saturday morning.