Oakland A's Sending 8 to the World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic is set to begin in just under one month, with Cuba and the Netherlands opening things up on March 7 at 8 p.m. for us west coasters. This is the first WBC tournament since 2017, and the United States are the reigning champions after beating Puerto Rico in the championship game six years ago. Puerto Rico has finished in second place the last two World Baseball Classics, finishing behind the Dominican Republic in 2013.
Former A's star Yoenis Céspedes has been added to Team Cuba's roster, and this could be the last time we see the 37-year-old on a baseball diamond.
As for guys currently in the A's system, Oakland has eight players, some with Major League experience, that will be participating in this year's tournament.
Martínez, acquired in the Sean Manaea trade last year, will be representing Team Mexico, and I'll be very interested to see how he performs against some of the biggest stars in the world. Mexico will be in Pool C in the Group Stage. I wrote early in the off-season that he could need to make an adjustment in order to reach his full potential.
The 26-year-old finished the 2022 season 4-6 with a 6.24 ERA and a 5.35 FIP. He gets ridiculous movement on his pitches, particularly on his changeup, which has the most vertical movement of any pitcher in baseball. I'm looking for guys to chase his offerings during the WBC, and if they are, he may be a new pitcher.
22-year-old Jordan Díaz will be suiting up for Team Colombia, also in Pool C. Díaz got into 15 games late in the year in 2022, batting .265 with a .294 on-base in 51 plate appearances.
While I think that Díaz could have a big season in store in 2023, I left him off of my Opening Day roster for the sole reason that he only had 26 games at Triple-A and still doesn't have a defensive position. While playing in the Colombian Winter League, he has played ten games at second base, three at first, and seven at third, with the other 19 presumably coming as the team's DH.
Not being with the A's during at least part of Spring Training likely doesn't help his chances of making the Opening Day roster, but it's tough to pass on an opportunity like this. He'll be in Oakland at some point in 2023, and when he returns, he may be hitting for more power, too.
Denzel Clarke
Clarke, the A's #13 prospect on MLB Pipeline, will be representing Team Canada, another team in Pool C. Martínez, Díaz, and Clarke will all be competing against one another, and against Team USA in the first round of this tournament.
The 22-year-old centerfielder was selected by the A's in the 4th round of the 2021 MLB Draft. He spent 2022 split pretty evenly between Stockton and Lansing, batting a combined .248 with a .365 OBP to go along with 15 homers and 30 stolen bases. He also participated in the Arizona Fall League, and in 46 plate appearances he hit .275 with a .370 OBP, while notching one home run and three steals.
He should be ready for Double-A Midland when the minor league season begins.
Gelof is the A's #3 prospect on Pipeline, and will be one of two members of the A's representing Team Israel in Pool D. This has to be one of the toughest Pools in the Group Stage, with Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela all looming.
That said, it will be a great test for Gelof, 23, as he looks to make his big-league debut sometime this season. He spent the majority of 2022 in Midland, batting .271 with a .356 OBP and 13 home runs in 87 games. He also got a cup of coffee in Triple-A Las Vegas to end the year, and launched five home runs in nine games.
Gelof spent most of his season manning second base, including every game with Vegas and in Mesa for the AFL. That will make finding Jordan Díaz a defensive position a little trickier if that trend continues, but having a lot of talented players is a good problem to have. Gelof will likely start in Las Vegas and will be a candidate to make his MLB debut as the season progresses.
Jake Fishman
Fishman, a 28-year-old left-hander, signed a minor league deal with the A's this off-season, and made a brief trip to the Majors in 2022 as a member of the Miami Marlins. Fishman will be teammates with Zack Gelof representing Team Israel.
In the big leagues, he got into seven total games, spanning 11 innings, and finished with a 4.09 ERA and a 2.84 FIP. In those eleven innings, Fishman didn't walk a single batter, and his walk rates in the minors suggest that isn't a mirage. He's topped out at 3.2 BB/9 in six seasons as a pro.
When he signed with the A's, one thing was immediately clear, and it was that his pitch types are pretty similar to Sam Moll's. He doesn't throw quite as hard as Moll, but if we see an increase in the number of sliders Fishman is tossing--he threw 40% sliders with the Marlins last season--then the A's could be attempting to recreate Sam Moll with better command.
Miguel Romero
Romero is entering his age 29 season in 2023, and will be representing Team Cuba in Pool A. He has been in the A's system since 2017, and has been in Triple-A Vegas for the last three seasons, dating back to 2019.
In those three seasons, he has tallied 200.2 innings, mostly in relief, and has gone 9-8 with a 5.83 ERA and a 1.610 WHIP, largely due to his 10.0 hits per nine allowed. Each season he's had progressively worse results, with him posting a 3.96 ERA in 2019, then a 6.27 in 2021, and a 7.76 ERA last season.
He went 1-0 in the Puerto Rican Winter League this off-season, tossing seven scoreless innings and not allowing a single walk.
James Gonzalez
Joining Romero in Pool A will be James Gonzalez, a 22-year-old lefty that the A's signed in 2019. Gonzalez will be on Team Panama. He spent part of 2021 in Stockton, then began 2022 in Lansing, before returning to the Ports after a rough first five games.
With the Lugnuts last season he had three scoreless outings, and two in which he went a combined four innings and allowed 11 earned. In his 8.1 High-A innings, his walk rate spiked to 6.48 per nine, which was higher than his strikeout rate of 5.40.
In his return to Stockton, he walk rate went up from 2.25 per nine in his 8 innings in 2021, to 3.82 per nine across 70.2 innings in 2022. That said, his strikeout rate also went up, from 5.63 to 9.04. He held a 5.48 ERA and a 5.78 FIP with Stockton in 2022.
Joshwan Wright
Wright, a 22-year-old utility player, was signed by the A's in 2017, and will be representing Team Panama as well.
After spending his first two seasons in the Dominican Summer League, and then the Arizona League, he made his way to Stockton in 2021 and proceeded to hit .243 with a .318 OBP to go along with an 8.1% walk rate and a 17.9% strikeout rate.
This past season Wright was in Lansing, and he only hit one home run, but he batted .274 with a .319 OBP and finished with a 15.5% strikeout rate. He spent 2021 playing primarily second base, but also got some time at third. This past season third base was where he saw the most action, and he also added left and right field to the mix, netting a little over 200 innings between the two outfield spots.