In advance of Sunday’s semifinal clash against the Dominican Republic and following a 5-3 win over Canada in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals, Team USA has again made some roster changes. This time, Clayton Kershaw was removed from the roster in favor of Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman.
Such between-round pitching staff churn isn’t unusual in the WBC. The U.S. made multiple changes ahead of Friday’s quarterfinal matchup. Pitchers Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, Michael Wacha of the Royals and Ryan Yarbrough of the Yankees were all removed from the roster heading into the knockout stage. They were replaced by right-handed relievers Will Vest of the Tigers and Tyler Rogers of the Blue Jays, along with lefty reliever Tim Hill of the Yankees.
Kershaw, who retired from Major League Baseball at the end of the 2025 season and did not ptich at all during the WBC, was removed after Friday’s game.
Hoffman, 33, had a dominant run with the Phillies from 2023-24 as a high-leverage setup man. Last season, he suffered some poor batted-ball luck as Toronto’s closer but still logged 33 saves and led the majors with 59 games finished.
The hard-throwing Vest, 30, is coming off a 2025 season in which he pitched to a 3.01 ERA with 75 strikeouts and 21 unintentional walks in 68 ⅔ innings. He enjoyed similar results in 2024 and 2023. The 35-year-old Rogers, who attacks hitters from drastically low arm angles, led the majors with 81 appearances last season and had a 1.98 ERA with 48 strikeouts and just seven walks in 77 ⅓ innings. Rogers also ranked in the 96th percentile among MLB pitchers in ground-ball rate. Hill, 36, had a 3.09 ERA in 67 innings for the Yankees in 2025, and he flashed even stronger ground-ball tendencies than Rogers did. Hill also limited left-handed batters to a microscopic OPS of .444.
The roster moves mean Skubal’s start for Team USA during pool play will be his only one of this WBC. Skubal wavered on that decision after his first start before admitting that he couldn’t make the timing work in order to keep his Opening Day gig with the Tigers.
“I think the only way I’ll be at peace with it is in Miami celebrating after we win the whole f—ing thing,” he said earlier this week. “That’ll give me some peace.”
Paul Skenes of the Pirates will go against the Dominican Republic in the semis. If the U.S. makes it to Tuesday’s championship game, Nolan McLean of the Mets is expected to make the start, according to MLB Network.
