{"id":24075,"date":"2026-03-17T21:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/24075\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:20:19","slug":"take-high-road-laugh-have-fun-with-it-team-israel-coach-says-of-criticism-of-jewish-players-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/24075\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Take High Road, Laugh, Have Fun With It,\u2019 Team Israel Coach Says of Criticism of Jewish Players"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Team Israel outfielder Assaf Lowengart in the team\u2019s dugout during the World Baseball Classic in Miami in March 2026. (Photo credit: Jonathan D. Salant)<\/p>\n

Jonathan D. Salant | JNS<\/p>\n

Assaf Lowengart, the first Israeli-born professional baseball player and the only sabra on Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic, was eager to have his parents come from Timorim to see him in action in 2023.<\/p>\n

But he broke his ankle three weeks before the tournament began and his parents stayed home.<\/p>\n

Lowengart healed, came back to Team Israel and prepared to welcome his parents to Miami for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. But then war broke out with Iran, and his parents canceled their baseball trip for a second time.<\/p>\n

Instead, he talks with his family before taking the field due to the time difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m healthy, I can play and they can\u2019t come because of the war,\u201d Lowengart told JNS after finishing battling practice. He wore cleats inscribed with am Yisrael chai, Hebrew for \u201cthe nation of Israel lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described having a range of emotions at the same time: \u201cspecial\u201d and \u201cawesome,\u201d but also both \u201chappy\u201d and \u201csad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowengart got into the game March 9<\/a>, playing center field against the Dominican Republic. He snagged a long fly ball off the bat of outfielder Juan Soto (New York Mets) in the final inning of the 10-1 loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you play, obviously when you get between the lines \u2014 it\u2019s baseball,\u201d he told JNS. \u201cSo you gotta clear the head, focus on the task at hand, win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Players said that they were aware of the ongoing war with Iran, even as their main focus all week remained on baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously are in support of Israel,\u201d outfielder Zach Levenson (St. Louis Cardinals) said, responding to a JNS question at a press conference.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Team Israel first baseman Spencer Horwitz outside the team\u2019s dugout during the World Baseball Classic in Miami in March 2026. (Photo credit: Jonathan D. Salant)<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to look at it that way,\u201d he told JNS. \u201cI try to just keep my eyes on the field and do what we can to play winning baseball on the field and to raise awareness for Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean Kremer (Baltimore Orioles), the winning pitcher in Sunday\u2019s game<\/a> against Nicaragua, was born in California to Israeli parents, regularly visits the Jewish state and acknowledges what\u2019s going on in his ancestral homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the first time that they\u2019ve had to deal with this and probably won\u2019t be the last time,\u201d Kremer said at a different press conference during the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they\u2019re a strong group of people,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re a very resilient group of people \u2014 my family over there holding tight as best as possible. They\u2019re just staying strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others had different experiences. Outfielder RJ Schreck (Toronto Blue Jays) said that he hasn\u2019t experienced much Jew-hatred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been lucky enough not really to feel much antisemitism in my life,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cI grew up in L.A. around a lot of Jews. Went to a couple of colleges that you meet some people that have never met Jews before, but there\u2019s still a large Jewish population at both colleges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m lucky to have not experienced it, and just really excited to play baseball here,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s been fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Israel\u2019s bench coach and former Red Sox, Kevin Youkilis, pushed back<\/a> recently on social media against a critic who suggested he was more loyal to the Jewish state, since he wasn\u2019t on Team USA in the tournament. (A Boston Herald reporter noted that he wasn\u2019t asked to be part of the American team.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of interesting how people just want to put stuff out there and you just gotta correct the record and just let people know that you\u2019re proud of your heritage, you\u2019re proud to coach this team,\u201d Youkilis told JNS.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnline is just online,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s their real world. We\u2019re living the real world on the field, and we do this for a living because we love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is a whole other world in itself where people are living a whole different kind of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Youkilis, who spent 10 years in the major leagues, primarily with the Red Sox, told JNS that he made no apologies for embracing his late father\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not gonna not stand up for our Jewish heritage and our pride,\u201d Youkilis said. \u201cSo for me, I don\u2019t shy away from it. It\u2019s never going to get me down, because I\u2019m just gonna keep living my life, loving baseball, loving my family and loving my heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all the criticism normally directed at players at the ballpark, you develop a thick skin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten a lot of things directed at me. You can either let it bother you, or laugh,\u201d Youkilis told JNS. \u201cSo you either have a choice to get angry and let it take on that energy, or you can just take the high road and laugh and have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Israel manager Brad Ausmus (New York Yankees) said that he wouldn\u2019t have said anything, but Youkilis is a different kind of animal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Youk being Youk. Youk likes to engage,\u201d Ausmus told JNS during a press conference. \u201cI tend to be a little more private on social media. But Youk is \u2014 I mean this in the best possible way \u2014 unique and fun to be around and fun to have around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team Israel outfielder Assaf Lowengart in the team\u2019s dugout during the World Baseball Classic in Miami in March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2492,11638,5499,11639,11640,37,8464,11641,4498,11642,549,5501],"class_list":{"0":"post-24075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-antisemitism","9":"tag-arts-and-culture","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-competitive-sports","12":"tag-dean-kremer","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-israeli-sports","15":"tag-jewish-athletes","16":"tag-jewish-community","17":"tag-jns","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-team-israel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116246611432963652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}