(By MATT PIKE)
The 2026 World Baseball Classic begins with pool play in March, and as Team Venezuela takes shape, two Kansas City Royals teammates will feature hoping to help push their country to a championship.
Third baseman Maikel Garcia will join catcher Salvador Perez for the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Garcia is making his WBC debut after a breakout 2025 season in which he tallied an .800 OPS, 16 home runs, 23 steals, 17 outs above average and 5.6 WAR, also earning him a long term contract extension with Kansas City during the offseason.
Also joining Perez and Garcia will be Ronald Acuña Jr., Jackson Chourio and Wilyer Abreu on Venezuela’s roster. In the 2023 WBC, Venezuela made it to the quarterfinals, where the team lost in an eventful 9-7 defeat against the United States.
It will be the second go around in the Classic for Acuña Jr. who oined Venezuela’s 2023 team before he embarked on a historic 41-home run, 73-stolen base season. After tearing his ACL in May 2024, he returned last season with a .935 OPS, 21 home runs and nine stolen bases in 95 games.
As for Chourio, he had not even made his Major League debut as of the last World Baseball Classic, ranking as MLB Pipeline’s No. 8 prospect entering the 2023 season. The young Milwaukee Brewers star, coming into this years Classic at just 21 years old, has hit 20-plus home runs and swiped 20-plus bases in each of his first two seasons.
Abreu has developed into one of the better all-around outfielders in baseball for the Boston Red Sox. Abreu’s 15 outs above average are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll for the most among right fielders since 2024 and he’s posted a .784 OPS in that time.
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