TAKING ON THE WORLD!
Mets, Yanks to be well-represented at Classic
The World Baseball Classic doesn’t officially begin until March 8, but the final rosters for each of the 20 competing nations were released on Thursday.
Members of the Mets’ and Yankees’ organizations will represent nine different countries at the upcoming tournament, which is being held for the first time since 2017. The Mets have a whopping ten members of their projected Opening Day roster who will be participating in the WBC, meaning they will miss a healthy chunk of the Mets’ spring training games. Five players from their minor league system (Camrin Opp, Great Britain; Claudio Scotti, Italy; Jonathan Arauz and Humberto Mejia, Panama; Dominic Hamel, Puerto Rico) will be part of the festivities as well.
The Yankees will have just four MLB players in the mix. Big names Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and latest addition Carlos Rodon have chosen not to suit up for the stars and stripes. Stanton was part of the American squad at the previous two tournaments, slamming a home run and driving in four runs for Team USA in 2017 en route to the gold medal. Judge, Cole, Rizzo and Rodon have never participated. Minor league pitcher Indigo Diaz — a Vancouver native who was traded from the Braves to the Yankees in the Lucas Luetge deal — is part of the Canadian roster.
As for the guys with MLB service time, the Mets and Yankees both have position players, starting pitchers and relievers who should play a big role for their respective countries. Interestingly, none of them will be playing for the Dominican Republic team, one of the favorites to win the whole thing. Mets’ outfielder Starling Marte and Yankees’ hurler Luis Severino (who wanted to go but was denied by general manager Brian Cashman) are notably absent from the Dominican side.
COLOMBIA Jose Quintana — Mets
Quintana is among the 67 players who have made an MLB All-Star team and is on a 2023 WBC roster. Colombia narrowly lost its game against the Americans in the 2017 tourney, a game Quintana started. The Mets’ newest lefty went 5.2 innings in that game, allowing his only hit (a Brandon Crawford single) to the final batter of his outing. Team USA eventually won in the bottom of the tenth on an Adam Jones walk-off single.
NICARAGUA Jonathan Loaisiga — Yankees
Loaisiga is one of only two players on the Nicaraguan roster with big league experience, joining veteran pitcher Erasmo Ramirez. The Yankee reliever is coming off the worst season of his career and is likely hoping the juicedup environment of the WBC will prepare him for the season better than Grapefruit League games.
PUERTO RICO Edwin Diaz and Francisco Lindor — Mets
Two of the Mets’ biggest and brightest stars are going to play for their homeland again, just as they did in 2017. At one point of this strange and twisting offseason, it looked like a third Met superstar would be part of this roster as well, but then the Mets backed out of their agreement with Carlos Correa and Correa ultimately signed with the Twins before deciding to back out of the WBC as well.
Puerto Rico has one of the most MLB-heavy rosters in the field, and they’ve added Marcus Stroman, who was MVP of the tournament in 2017 while pitching for the United States. Stroman is eligible for the team because his mother hails from Puerto Rico.
UNITED STATES Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley — Mets Nestor Cortes and Kyle Higashioka — Yankees
Fans of Big Apple baseball will certainly recognize some names when watching Team USA. With four players on the team, the Mets are tied with the Cardinals (who are sending Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Miles Mikolas and Adam Wainwright) for most players on the American roster.
Alonso, McNeil, Ottavino and Raley will all be participating for the first time. With Goldschmidt at first base, Alonso likely will have to fight for designated hitter reps, while McNeil may be forced off of second base by Trea Turner or even Mookie Betts, who came up as a second baseman and could handle the position to accommodate a crowded outfield. Ottavino and Raley (who is the only true lefty reliever on this team) will be part of a relief crew tasked with setting up Houston’s Ryan Pressly and Milwaukee’s Devin Williams, the indisputable top dogs of the American bullpen.
On the Yankee side of things, Cortes and Higashioka occupy interesting places. Cortes could end up being used as either a starter or a reliever. Managers, understandably, don’t typically let starters go very deep into these exhibition games. But with Mikolas, Wainwright, Clayton Kershaw, Lance Lynn and Merrill Kelly also part of the equation, Cortes might find his workload in the middle innings. Higashioka, meanwhile, is the clear third catcher behind J.T. Realmuto and Will Smith. Nobody — not even Higashioka himself — would say that he is one of the three best American catchers in the game. But with Sean Murphy, Adley Rutschman, Cal Raleigh and Travis d’Arnaud all sitting this one out, Higgy gets the emergency catcher gig.
VENEZUELA Eduardo Escobar, Omar Narvaez, Elieser Hernandez — Mets Gleyber Torres — Yankees
The Venezuelans — led by Ronald Acuna Jr., Jose Altuve and Salvador Perez, plus a fairly deep pitching staff — can definitely make some noise in this tournament. All three of the Met and Yankee position players may be blocked at their position by other players, though. Escobar will battle for third base with Seattle’s Eugenio Suarez, who is coming off a 31-homer season. Narvaez will serve as Perez’s backup behind the dish, and Torres will do the same for Altuve at second base.
Hernandez, picked up by the Mets this offseason after five years with the Marlins, will be a long reliever for the Amazin’s but could theoretically get some starts for Venezuela. On the official rosters sent out by Major League Baseball, the 27-yearold Hernandez is listed as a starter, not a reliever.