Scouting in baseball never stops. It happens at all levels of professional baseball, and especially in tournaments like the Premier12 and World Baseball Classic.
More than a handful of players from outside Major League Baseball put on impressive showcases throughout this year’s World Baseball Classic. These lesser-known stars just need somewhere to shine, and the World Baseball Classic is a perfect place for them to dazzle in front of Major League organizations.
This list won’t feature household names like Aaron Judge or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, obviously. These players used the global stage to boost their stock. World Baseball Network examines five players who could secure MLB contracts in the near future based on their performance in the World Baseball Classic.
Andrés Machado, RP, Venezuela – Machado is the closer for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Orix Buffaloes and spent parts of four seasons in the big leagues with the Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals. He struck out 10 batters and issued one walk in 6 ⅓ innings for Venezuela, surrendering Bryce Harper’s game-tying two-run home run in last night’s championship game. Per Baseball America, Machado’s average fastball velocity has jumped from 96-98.6 mph since 2023, potentially putting him back on the MLB radar.
Enzo Sawayama, SP, Brazil – You’ll find no other statistics on Sawayama’s Baseball Reference page besides the appearances the 22-year-old has made in the World Baseball Classic and World Baseball Classic qualifiers. Brazil’s pitching staff allowed 47 runs in four pool play games, but none of those 47 crossed the plate against Sawayama. His eight scoreless innings with just four combined hits allowed in starts against Italy and Great Britain could earn the Japanese-born left-hander a future minor league flier.
Teruaki Sato, 3B, Japan – As the winner of last season’s Central League MVP in NPB with the Hanshin Tigers, an MLB future may already be in the cards for Sato. He hit .300 in five games and finished with a 1.017 OPS for a defending champion Japan team that was upset in the quarterfinals by Venezuela. A contract similar to Kazuma Okamoto’s four-year, $60 million pact with the Toronto Blue Jays is not out of the question.
Kim Do-yeong, 3B, Korea – There have already been rumors of Kim’s eventual transition to MLB, similar to Sato. The Kia Tigers star of the Korea Baseball Organization won the KBO MVP in his age 20 season and didn’t look overpowered against international competition outside of South Korea, hitting a two-run homer in pool play against Chinese Taipei. Kim went 0-for-3 with a strikeout at the plate in the quarterfinals against the Dominican Republic, but his mixture of power and speed has MLB scouts intrigued.
Erasmo Ramirez, SP, Nicaragua – Ramirez is a 14-year Major League Baseball veteran still searching for a job. The 35-year-old is clearly not ready to hang up the spikes, evident by five innings of one-run ball in a heartbreaking loss for Nicaragua to the Netherlands, thanks to Ozzie Albies’ walk-off home run. Ramirez’s performance against a lineup that included several current and former Major League hitters is a clear sign he can still get outs in high-leverage situations.
