Texas Rangers Ace Could Make Next Start Against Team USA

Venezuela manager Omar López says he doesn’t know who will be his starting pitcher against Team USA in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals on Saturday.

Turns out, Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy doesn’t know who Venezuela will start, either.

The reason that’s relevant to Bochy and the Rangers is that the starter could be Rangers left-hander Martín Pérez.

López said on Thursday that he hadn’t selected a starting pitcher. Based on the fact that Venezuela had another off-day before Saturday’s game, he wasn’t in a hurry to select one.

“We have one more day of rest and this benefits a little to see how we can manipulate the pitching rotation,” López said.

Pérez is certainly an option. He started Venezuela’s pool play opener against the Dominican Republic, a 5-1 win over Venezuela. That game was Saturday and Pérez went 3 1/3 strong innings, giving up four hits, one run and two walks while striking out four.

He hasn’t thrown since, so he would have more than five days rest. Making things a bit easier for Venezuela is that they’re already in Miami, site of the quarterfinal at Loan Depot Park.

If Pérez threw on Saturday, it would probably be his last WBC appearance. The semifinal games are on Sunday and Monday, with the championship on Tuesday.

López is, naturally, being cautious with Pérez.

Bochy admitted on Thursday that he had Pérez penciled in for an appearance in an upcoming Spring Training game if Venezuela was eliminated.

As for Saturday, Bochy said he hadn’t heard and he’s not getting updates about Pérez, but other officials within the organization are.

Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux “is keeping in touch with them about his situation,” Bochy said. “I don’t know if [general manager Chris Young] has, but no I haven’t had any contact with them.”

Earlier this spring, Bochy said he had no issues with Pérez pitching with Venezuela, noting that the WBC has strict pitch counts to help keep pitchers from being overworked. A pitcher can throw no more than 65 pitches in a WBC outing.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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