Jake Bird is flying worldwide. The Colorado Rockies rookie reliever committed to Team Israel for the 2023 World Baseball Classic on Wednesday.

Drafted out of UCLA in the 5th round by the Rockies in 2018, Bird flew (get it?) through the Minors -- posting a 3.41 Minor League ERA before making his big league debut with a scoreless inning against the Guardians on June 16. Though the right-hander has struggled with control in his rookie season (5.0 BB/9), he also possesses an often untouchable curveball. Batters have hit just .214 against the breaker and whiff on it 51.7 percent of the time.?

¡°I know my stuff is good enough; it¡¯s just about guys being a little smarter, so I can work on just being a little bit more unpredictable,¡± Bird told MLB.com's Thomas Harding. ¡°Everybody has been really supportive. Sometimes I wish somebody would get on me, yell at me a little bit more, but I¡¯m going to keep trying to get better.¡±

Bird is the first player to commit to Team Israel since Ian Kinsler was announced as manager last week. The team will hope to repeat its 2017 WBC performance when the Cinderella darlings went 4-2 and finished in sixth place.

Israel will begin play in Pool D against Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and a yet-to-be-determined team on March 11 in Miami, Fla.