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By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
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The World Baseball Classic is baseball in its most joyful form, and few players in Major League Baseball regularly play the game with more joy than Los Angeles Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernández.
Hernández, the three-time World Series champion who re-signed with the Dodgers last month, played in each of the last two WBC events for Team Puerto Rico. But this time around, he was recovering from offseason elbow surgery.
Though he will be on hand to witness his national team play its first couple of games this tournament, Hernández admitted this week that it was a pretty brutal feeling to not be on the field this time around.
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“These are our Olympics,” Hernández said, per Katie Woo of The Athletic. “This is the World Cup of baseball. Everybody from Puerto Rico wants to be a part of this.”
As if it wasn't painful enough to miss the WBC in general, Hernández is having to skip out on Puerto Rico's first experience as a host site. Games are being hosted at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, with Team Puerto Rico's opener coming Friday at 6 p.m. ET against Team Colombia.
“For us to finally get that seed back to host (and for me not to play), it was just devastating,” Hernández said, per Woo. “Being able to put that uniform on means the absolute world to us.”
Hernández has done all he can to still make an impact despite his absence on the field. Not only is he dyeing his own hair blonde, as has become a team tradition, but he made sure first-time Team Puerto Rico member and eight-time major league All-Star Nolan Arenado was doing it as well.
Plus, Hernández facilitated a collaboration with Puerto Rican recording artist Bad Bunny to get custom cleats made in the style of the artist's new signature Adidas shoe for the players to sport on the field.
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