With the World Baseball Classic underway this week, so many of the world’s greatest players will share the field. And, unfortunately, many players will miss the tournament. Some declined invitations for personal reasons, including Cody Bellinger and Max Fried. Others had to withdraw due to injury, such as Corbin Carroll (hamate), Pablo López (elbow), and Edwin Uceta (shoulder).
There is another group of healthy, able-bodied players who want to play in the WBC, but can’t for insurance reasons. Among them are Jose Altuve, José Berríos, Carlos Correa, and Mike Trout. They’re all healthy and will play in spring training games while the WBC is going on, but are unable to represent their countries because they weren’t cleared by insurance provider. (Francisco Lindor was part of this group as well before breaking his hamate bone.)
2026 World Baseball Classic: Why Trout, Correa, Altuve, more MLB stars aren’t playing
