Rick VandenHurk excited about the WBC

by craig on Feb 21, 2008 8:49 AM EST in News Comment 0 comments

The 16 teams for the 2009 WBC were announced and Rick VandenHurk is a happy camper seeing how the Netherlands will be one of those teams.

Tuesday, World Baseball Classic Inc. officially invited the Netherlands to participate in the 2009 event. Vandenhurk was recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2006 when the inaugural tournament was held.

"Going to the World Baseball Classic is big-time for the country," said Vandenhurk, who is looking forward to joining guys like Andruw Jones, Jair Jurrjens and Mariners outfield prospect Wladimir Balentien on the club. "If I'm asked, for sure. If the [Marlins] let me go, for sure. That's an honor for me to play on the national team. I definitely want to do that."

I'm almost positive that VandenHurk will be asked to join the national team. Also, I'm sure the Marlins will let him go, if healthy, to participate in the event. This is assuming he starts his workouts earlier than normal, which he will probably do.