Blue Jays' Roberto Osuna: Won't pitch past WBC's first round

Osuna, who will play for Team Mexico, is planning to only pitch during the first round of the World Baseball Classic, ESPN's Marly Rivera reports.

Analysis:

The WBC is scheduled to end less than two weeks before the Jays travel to Baltimore for Opening Day. By exiting after the first round, Osuna will afford himself a full three weeks back at Jays' camp before the MLB regular season begins. The right-handed closer had never thrown more than 44 innings in any of his first four professional seasons before reaching the majors, but Osuna has now logged 69-plus innings in each of his first two big league campaigns, and the workload began to show in 2016. Although his second-half performance was nothing to scoff at, there was a clear drop-off in his numbers -- specifically in ERA and strikeout rate -- as last year's campaign wore on. Sitting out the latter half of the WBC will help Osuna preserve his arm for later in the 2017 MLB season.