When the World Baseball Classic gets underway in March, Team Mexico likely won't have Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada available to help their pursuit of becoming the top baseball country in the world.

The 33-year-old appeared on MLB Network Radio on Wednesday and pegged the likelihood of pitching for his native country as slim because of issues surrounding his back.

"This whole back issue. I'm feeling much better and hopefully by the time spring training comes I'm 100 percent clear from this back thing. I think because of that I might have to skip this year's classic," Estrada explained.

The hurler, who was born in Sonora, Mexico, dealt with a herniated disc in his back over the summer, and said his No. 1 priority for the offseason is coming into Blue Jays spring training healthy, although his mind could still change if Mexico advances to the WBC's second round.

"I've got to make sure I'm 100 percent healthy for the season," Estrada said. "Knowing me, and how competitive I am, I'm going to go out there and try and give it everything and I probably won't be ready to pitch yet by then, so I've got to take a step back, and unfortunately I don't think I'll be pitching in it, but who knows if I feel good by then maybe I'll change my mind if they advance to the second round.

"It's not completely out of the question yet, but like I said I have to make sure I'm ready to pitch for the Blue Jays and nobody else."

As it stands, Jaime Garcia of the Atlanta Braves is the only major-league starter slated to pitch for Mexico at the WBC.

Estrada has been a very dependable starter for the Blue Jays since coming over in a 2014 trade, posting a 22-17 record with a 3.30 ERA across 357 innings of work.