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This year, Puerto Rico hopes that the third time is the charm in the World Baseball Classic. After being the runner-ups in 2013 and 2017, Puerto Rico wants to capture that elusive first title and they will have a new manager in former St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.
Puerto Rico’s WBC will begin on March 11 when they take on Nicaragua in Miami, Florida (noon ET, FS2) in the opening game of Pool D, a pool that also features Israel, Venezuela, and the early favorites in the Dominican Republic. The plus for Puerto Rico is that they do not have to play the D.R. until the final day of group play on March 15. If they are 3-0 at that point, then they will likely only be playing for seeding.
Of course, there are two New York Mets players on this roster in shortstop Francisco Lindor, closer Edwin Diaz, and right-handed pitching prospect Dominic Hamel. However, this roster has plenty of former Mets as well, such as infielder Javier Báez and starter Marcus Stroman. Let’s take a closer look at Team Puerto Rico.
But, before we do, here is the Pool D Games Schedule for March 2023 in Miami.
Projected Starting Lineup
C Christian Vázquez/Martín Maldonado
1B José Miranda
2B Javier Báez
DH Neftali Soto
Back in 2017, the Puerto Rico offense hit 11 home runs in the tournament. They will have to find a way to duplicate that power this year when you consider that 8 of those 11 home runs were hit by players that aren’t in this year’s version of the WBC. The other three were hit by the middle infield duo of Lindor and Báez.
Lindor and Báez already have great chemistry together when it comes to their defense, so there should be one or two plays that either one of them makes that changes the outcome of a game.
Báez needs a bounceback 2023 after a rough first season in Detroit last year where he had a slash line of .238/.278/.393 with 17 home runs, 67 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 93. This tournament could be the opportunity to get his 2023 year started on a great note.
As for Lindor, he is coming off of his first season in which he drove in over 100+ runs in his career and his .449 slugging percentage was the highest that he had since he was with Cleveland back in 2019.
At catcher, they have three major leaguers in Christian Vázquez, Martín Maldonado, and MJ Melendez. Melendez could be a good option against lefties as he had a slash line of .295/.357/.482 and a .839 OPS in 60 games against lefties last year (.193/.299/.365/.664 against righties in 120 games). Vázquez and Melendez were two of the ten catchers in baseball a year ago who had more than 100 hits, so they can provide some offense at the position.
Moving towards the outfield, Kiké Hernández will be a good versatile option for Yadier Molina’s squad. He can play at all three outfield spots and has good experience performing on the big stage (.269/.351/.550, 13 home runs, 27 RBIs in 69 career postseason games). Of course, this outfield also has another former NLCS MVP in Eddie Rosario (2021).
Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports
Projected Rotation
If Puerto Rico is going to make another run to the championship round this year, it’s going to be because of their pitching. This year, they will have Marcus Stroman in their rotation after Stroman beat them in the championship back in 2017 with Team USA and was later named MVP of the WBC.
During the tournament, Stroman went 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA and had 9 K’s to 2 walks in 15.1 innings of work (3 starts).In his first season in Chicago last year, Stroman threw his fewest amount of innings (138.2) since 2018 with the Blue Jays (102.1), and the 119 K’s he had were the second-lowest of his career. This could be the kind of tournament that also gets his 2023 off to a better start as the expectations get higher for the Cubs.
Another pitcher in the rotation that needs a strong 2023 is José Berríos. Berríos made two starts in the 2017 WBC and was 1-0 with 10 K’s to 2 walks in 6.2 innings. However, his ERA ended up being 8.10. Last year, Berríos gave up the most hits he has ever given up in a single season (199) and had the highest FIP of his career (4.55). If Stroman and Berríos can find their A stuff in this tournament, then Puerto Rico can make a deep run.
The other name to watch is Mets prospect Dominic Hamel. The Third Round pick in 2021 had 11 strikeouts per 9 innings a year with High-A Brooklyn and Low-A St. Lucie. Hamel got promoted to Brooklyn on July 4 and still ended up being second on the team in strikeouts (74). Opponents hit just .180 against him en route to being named the Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Bullpen
If I had to pick a strength for Team Puerto Rico, it would be the bullpen. They have three pitchers that could be a closer on any given day. Obviously, it starts with Mets closer Edwin Díaz, who had 2 saves in 4 games in the 2017 WBC. In his historic All-Star season a year ago, he had a FIP of 0.90 and an ERA of 1.31 to go with 32 saves in 61 games.
If Edwin isn’t the closer, then his brother Alexis Díaz could be an option. The Reds closer brings heat out of the bullpen to go with a nasty slider. The 26-year-old is coming off of a rookie season in which he had 83 K’s, a 1.84 ERA, and an ERA+ of 244 in 59 games with a struggling Reds squad.
Jorge López would be another option if the Díaz brothers aren’t available to close. The now 30-year-old had 23 saves a year ago in his first primary year as closer with the Orioles and Twins and he made his first All-Star appearance.
One prospect who should be intriguing to watch in this tournament out of the bullpen is 25-year-old right-hander Anthony Maldonado. Maldonado was a 11th Round pick of the Marlins in 2019. While he is not on their Top-30 prospect list, he had a great end to 2022 in Triple-A Jacksonville after he was promoted in late August (1.74 ERA, 3 saves, 28 strikeouts, 5 walks in 20.2 innings).
When To Watch
The first chance to watch Team Puerto Rico will be on March 8 when they play an exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox (6:05 PM ET, NESN).
As for their WBC schedule, here are the four games they are scheduled to play:
- March 11 vs. Nicaragua
- March 12 vs. Venezuela (7 p.m, FS1)
- March 13 vs. Israel (7 p.m, FS1)
- March 15 vs. Dominican Republic
While this Puerto Rico squad may lack the talent that they have had in past tournaments, they still are one of the favorites to at least come out of Pool D and if they finish second, they would most likely be facing Team USA in the quarterfinals if the USA finishes first in Pool C.
