Previewing The 2023 World Baseball Classic: Pool C

With the 2023 World Baseball Classic rapidly approaching let’s take a look at Pool C, the pool that features Team USA. The action will take place in Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. The last time Team USA played WBC games in Arizona was in 2013 when they won the pool despite a loss to Mexico.

Now, 10 years later, Team USA will have Canada and Mexico in its pool again along with Colombia (Team USA faced in pool play in 2017) and a newcomer to the international stage in Great Britain. Here is the schedule for Pool C:

March 11

Colombia vs. Mexico (2:30 p.m ET, FOX)

Great Britain vs. USA (9 p.m, FOX)

March 12

Great Britain vs. Canada (3 p.m, FS1)

Mexico vs. USA (10 p.m, FS1)

March 13

Colombia vs. Great Britain (3 p.m, FS2)

Canada vs. USA (10 p.m, FS1)

March 14

Canada vs. Colombia (3 p.m, FS2)

Great Britain vs. Meixco (10 p.m, FS1)

March 15

Mexico vs. Canada (3 p.m, FS2)

USA vs. Colombia (10 p.m, FS1)

5. Great Britain

Great Britain is in the World Baseball Classic for the first time after winning Pool A of the Qualification Round back in September. While the expectations are low for this group to get past pool play, there is some intriguing storylines to watch with individual players.

Behind the plate, Great Britain will have Mariners’ top prospect Harry Ford. Seattle’s first-round pick (12th overall) back in 2021 shows good power from behind the plate (23 doubles, 11 home runs in Single-A in 2022) along with a good speed tool (23-for-28 on stolen base attempts). He will get the chance in this tournament to face some strong major league competition and show what he can do.

Meanwhile, in the outfield, the most recognizable name for fans is Trayce Thompson, who is currently with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has been in the big leagues for six years and has a career slash line of .221/.303/.434 with 39 home runs and 109 RBIs. He will provide good versatility for Spencer’s squad with his ability to play all three outfield positions.

There are some current and former Mets’ on this Great Britain squad. Left-hander Cam Opp will be in the bullpen. The 27-year-old made it to Double-A Binghamton at the end of last year. He spent the bulk of the year at High-A Brooklyn and went 1-3 with a 5.23 ERA and had 26 strikeouts to 19 walks in 31 innings of work.

Vance Worley is also with the Great Britain squad and could see a start during pool play. Worley never got to the big league club while with the Mets, but he did pitch at Triple-A Syracuse in 2021 (4-6, 5.23 ERA, 39 strikeouts to 32 walks in 86 innings over 16 games).

Great Britain doesn’t have the same amount of high-end talent as the other four countries in this group and they do have to play four games in four days. However,, they do have players that can keep a game close into the later innings. If that happens, then you can’t necessarily rule out a surprise upset in a tournament like this that could shape who comes out of the group.

4. Canada

In the four previous World Baseball Classics, Canada has a record of 3-8 and has never advanced past pool play. Ernie Whitt has been the manager in every installment of the tournament.

On the mound, Canada’s rotation took a hit with Nick Pivetta dropping out of the tournament due to an illness. That will put a lot of pressure on Cal Quantrill to get the tournament off to a good start. The Guardians right-handed starter is coming off a strong 2022 where he went 15-5 with a 3.38 ERA and had a career-high total in strikeouts (128) and innings pitched (186 1/3). While he lost both of his starts against the Yankees in the ALDS, he only allowed three earned runs in each of those two outings.

Going to the bullpen, Canada does have some veteran options in John Axford and Adam Loewen. However, the names to watch are Mariners relievers Matt Brash (69 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings in 2022) and Matt Festa.

Freddie Freeman is the mainstay for this Canada offense, which failed to hit a single home run in 2017 and only had one long ball in 2013. With Freeman’s power along with Bo Naylor behind the plate, and outfielders Owen Caissie (Cubs) and Tyler O’ Neill (Cardinals), Canada should be able to surpass that total this year.

Caissie is probably the most intriguing prospect to watch on this team. The 20-year-old left-handed hitter had 11 home runs and 21 doubles at High-A South Bend a year ago. He has a career .OPS of .808 in his two years in the minor leagues.

If Canada can get to that Mexico finale game with a 2-1 record, then that could be a fun win-and-in game to end pool play. Further, after the two sides had a brawl in 2013 on this same field, you know tensions can be high when these two countries face each other.

3. Colombia

If there is a sleeper that can come out of Pool C other than the two favorites, it would be Colombia. The country won the 2022 Carribean Series and made it to the finals this past February before losing to the Dominican Republic.

While they did not make it to the Championship Round in 2017, Colombia ended up pushing the United States to the last out before losing 3-2. Also, they defeated Canada and lost to the Dominican Republic in extra innings. It’s a country that isn’t afraid to face some of the top teams.

On offense, Colombia only hit one home run in the 2017 WBC and that was by one of their catchers on this year’s team, Jorge Alfaro. They do have some intriguing players on offense such as Oscar Mercado and Harold Ramírez in the outfield and Gio Urshela at third base, but that isn’t the strength of this roster.

That strength is going to be on the mound with José Quintana. Quintana is going to take the ball in the opener against Julio Urías. The Mets left-handed pitcher did well against Team USA in 2017 (5.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 SO). Quintana is joined by Julio Teheran, who also only allowed one run in his only WBC start.

Colombia doesn’t have a set closer that will be recognizable to most fans (Elkin Alcalá), but they can bring some velocity out of the bullpen with pitchers such as Tayron Guerrero, Ezequiel Zabaleta, and Jhon Romero.

As for Mets’ ties on this roster, there are plenty. Former Met Dilson Herrera will see some time at the middle infield spots and right-handed pitcher Nabil Crismatt will see some key innings out of the bullpen.

2. Mexico

Mexico has not made it to the second round in the last two editions of the WBC, but they have a chance to buck that trend this year because of the starting rotation. With Urías, Patrick Sandoval, José Urquidy, and Taijuan Walker, Mexico has arguably the best rotation in the tournament.

Their offense took a little bit of a hit when catcher Alejandro Kirk pulled himself out of the WBC. Six years ago, Mexico’s offense scored 22 runs and hit .312 as a team, but only had three players record a home run.

If you look at the power options that Mexico has, it starts with Rowdy Tellez, who can be used as either the designated hitter or at first base. Tellez was one of ten players in all of baseball last year to hit 35-plus home runs and he was tied for the fourth-most home runs in the second half of last year (17) trailing only Anthony Santander, Albert Pujols, and Aaron Judge. You would think that Tellez will be plugged into the middle of the order for most, if not all games in pool play.

Mexico also has a good outfield for this tournament led by Randy Arozarena. Arozarena has a good history of performing on the big stage. The 2020 ALCS MVP has a slash line of .333/.417/.705 with 11 home runs and 17 RBIs in 31 career postseason games. He would be able to provide good speed as well with his 52 combined stolen bases in the last two years.

Moving to the rest of the outfield, Alex Verdugo performed well in 2017 (5-for-14, three runs scored) and he led the Red Sox in hits in the second half of last season (78). In center field, options are either Diamondbacks second-year player Alek Thomas or Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran.

In the infield, Isaac Paredes (Rays) is the most intriguing player to watch on the team. Paredes can play three different positions in the infield and the 24-year-old right-handed hitter has good power (20 home runs, 17 doubles in 2022). He might have to play shortstop when you consider Luis Urías (Brewers) is probably better defensively at third than he is at shortstop.

Some former Mets to watch on Team Mexico are left-hander Oliver Pérez and right-hander Luis Cessa (former Mets prospect).

1.  United States

Team USA will look to defend its 2017 WBC title with a new manager and former Team USA player in Mark DeRosa. In DeRosa’s first managerial role, he has one of the best offenses in the tournament as any lineup card he puts out there is probably going to be a great one.

The outfield is probably Team USA’s biggest strength as you can expect Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and any combination of Cedric Mullins, Jeff McNeil, Kyle Tucker, or Kyle Schwarber. If Schwarber ends up being the designated hitter, then there’s good defense in the outfield in addition to the offense.

When you look at the infield, you have a corner spot duo of Cardinals in Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt with Pete Alonso likely getting some playing time at first. Then, you add a great amount of speed with Trea Turner, Tim Anderson, and Bobby Witt Jr.

If you had to pick a weakness on this squad, it’s probably the starting rotation. Even though they have solid arms with Adam Wainwright, Merrill Kelly, Lance Lynn, and Brady Singer among others, there is no true ace like the Dominican Republic has with Sandy Alcántara. That being said, with the pitch count rules early in the tournament, they can combine a couple of good arms to piece together a game.

Down in the bullpen, there are a couple Mets in Brooks Raley and Adam Ottavino. In addition to those two pitchers, Team USA has a few closer options such as Daniel Bard, Kendall Graveman, Ryan Pressly, and Devin Williams. If Team USA can hold a lead, they have good depth to hold that lead.

 Most Intriguing Game: Colombia vs. Mexico

One game fans should certainly keep an eye on is the first game between Colombia and Mexico. Yes, Mexico versus USA would be a good choice as well due to the rivalry and history between the two sides, but it’s safe to say Team USA should be able to easily advance out of this group. As for these two countries, it won’t be as easy.

The winner of Colombia versus Mexico might only need two more wins in their next three games to advance. The loser would have to maybe run the table to advance depending on tiebreakers. That puts Mexico at a disadvantage because they play Team USA the next night while Colombia doesn’t play the United States until the final game of pool play.

When you consider the pitching matchup in this one is Quintana vs. Urías, you are going to have a tough time finding a better matchup in pool play than this one. These teams have never faced each other in the WBC up until this game.

Prediction

Team USA might run into some close games in this tournament, but expect them to win this group and play the runner-up in Pool D in the next round. While we ranked Mexico’s roster ahead of Colombia due to the rotation, we are going to go with a surprise pick and select Colombia to advance as the runner-up. They will benefit from getting to face Team USA last.

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