In a press conference on Monday morning, Benji Gil and Rodrigo López were both officially introduced as manager and general manager for México at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
They held the same roles at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In the 2023 edition, Gil helped lift México to the semifinals, the country’s best-ever finish and they were three outs away from eliminating Japan and reaching their first WBC final.
This time ,México will look to take another step and reach the top of the mountain in international baseball and be crowned World Baseball Classic champions.
On Monday, 8 players were named by Gil and López as players contacted and expressed interest in representing Mexico. Those players are Randy Arozarena, Ramón Urías, Luis Urías, Isaac Paredes, Andrés Muñoz, Jarren Duran, Marcelo Mayer and Alejandro Kirk.
Arozarena was one of the brightest stars of the 2023 WBC. Luis Urías had a couple big moments, including a three-run homer off Rōki Sasaki in the semifinal against Japan. Ramón Urías, Andrés Muñoz and Alejandro Kirk did not play in 2023, but will provide significant boosts to México in 2026. Duran was a backup outfielder in 2023 but is the favorite to be the starting center fielder.
When looking at potential roster additions as we get closer to the WBC, México manager said this about roster additions: “In the last Classic we were looking for players who had Mexican roots and today it is the players with Mexican roots who are looking for us to represent Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.”
Mexican baseball has never been in a better spot and they’ll look for a title next March.
Photo: Manager Benji Gil #30 of Team Mexico looks on during the playing of the national anthems prior to Game 1 of Pool C between Team Colombia and Team Mexico at Chase Field on Saturday, March 11, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
