Clayton Kershaw The Most Recent MLB Player To Join Team USA In World Baseball Classic

The fifth installment of the World Baseball Classic will be played in 2023, as Team USA's roster is taking shape.

Team USA announced Monday, Los Angeles Dodgers Three-time National League Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw, 34, will join Team USA's 2023 roster.

The nine-time All-Star joins a stacked roster of players set to represent Team USA, looking for its second consecutive World Baseball Classic title, after winning it all in 2017.

Kershaw, will be pitching in his first WBC tournament. The three-time NL strikeout leader will anchor a pitching staff that includes Arizona Diamondbacks Merrill Kelly, New York Yankees Nestor Cortes, Milwaukee Brewers 2019 NL rookie of the year Devin Williams and Houston Astros 2022 World series champion closer Ryan Pressly, among others, via ESPN.

The southpaw superstar pitcher went 12-3 in his 2022 campaign. The five-time NL ERA leader posted a 2.28 ERA and started his first All-Star Game, after appering in eight All-Star games previous to 2022. Injuries, however, did limit Kershaw to pitching in only 126.1 innnings over the course of 22 starts for the second consecutive year.

Team USA will be managed by former 15-year Major League Baseball veteran and current MLB Network studio analyst Mark DeRosa, in the 2023 tournament. His coaching staff will include Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. as hitting coach and five-time World Series champion Andy Pettitte as pitching coach, according to Fox Sports.

The WBC will be expanding from 16 teams to 20 for the first time. As the 16 teams that participated in the 2017 WBC will have an automatic berth for 2023, per CBS Sports.

The 2023 WBC will take place between March 7th, and March 21st. The semifinals and final will be played at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida.