The World Baseball Classic is a divisive topic among many baseball fans, but former MLB player Eric Byrnes takes a passionate stance in favor.

Byrnes, on MLB Network's "High Heat" Wednesday, sounded off on owners and players not wanting to be involved in this year's WBC.

"Somewhere along the way, and I don't know where it was or when it was, it almost became cool to, let's say, shun the tournament. It also almost became cool to become anti-patriotic. There's something seriously wrong with that.

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Byrnes set his sights not just on players, but the influencers driving U.S. players away from the tournament.

"I'm not even gonna blame the players, because a lot of the players are taking advice from who? From their teams. From their agents. From everybody else. Well guess what. Wake the freak up. If you're a Major League Baseball team, and you're an owner, and you don't want one of your guys going to represent the United States of America, slap yourself in the face. If you're a manager, slap yourself in the face. If you're an agent, slap yourself in the face."

Byrnes went on to question the whereabouts of MLB stars Noah Syndergaard, Bryce Harper, Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout in this year's World Baseball Classic.

While this year's U.S. team is certainly lined with stars, Byrnes brings up a point: Why don't the sports biggest, most marketable stars want to partake in the tournament?

The United States faces off against Puerto Rico in the WBC finals tonight at 9 p.m. ET.