Vinnie Pasquantino, Jac Caglianone and Team Italy defeated Seth Lugo and Puerto Rico on Saturday.
On Saturday, Lugo — representing Puerto Rico — took the mound against Italy in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals at Daikin Park in Houston. He stood squarely across from Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone.
“No, to be honest with you,” Caglianone told reporters of any pregame banter. “I know Seth’s a very smart player. I spent a lot of time last year just talking game plan with him in the dugout.
He definitely sees the game differently. But I think as long as we can keep doing what we’ve been doing, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
Vinnie is becoming a star in Italy.
“I opened my phone after the game to like 60 DMs and it was in words … I didn’t know how to say,” the pitcher explained Sunday of his direct messages. “So definitely going to have to do some Google translate, for sure.”
And he is proud of his Italian heritage.
“I’m just trying to take in as much as I can because I know that there’s a lot of people that are upset that we represent Italy, being Italian-American, but I take so much pride in it because it is my roots,” Pasquantino said. “My family came over for a better life to America and, I honestly don’t have any issue representing those members of my family and it’s just super cool to be given this opportunity from these guys.”
Rustin Dodd at The Athletic writes about the benefits of drinking espresso in the dugout. [$]
Maikel Garcia and Salvador Perez lead Venezuela over Japan.
The Royals have been featured very prominently in the World Baseball Classic.
“It’s been a lot of fun watching our guys go out there and have big games, come through in clutch moments,” Michael Wacha said. “That’s building confidence for them coming into the regular season, finding their swings, finding their pitches, it will only help us out during the regular season.”
“That’s the buzz that has been going around here, seeing what those guys have been doing over the last two weeks,” Schreiber said. “We’re super proud of them.”
Kansas City had the highest TV ratings of any market for the WBC pool play.
Anne Rogers writes the Royals are considering a six-man rotation at times.
“We’re talking about that all the time,” Sweeney said. “It could happen at different points of the year: ‘Is this the right thing to do?’ We have those first games and then the off-day, and then we’re 12 in a row in early April. That’s where a lot of injuries happen. ‘Should we do it there?’ We have to be really smart with these starters because workload matters for a healthy guy and a guy that was injured last year. How do we keep these guys running through the finish line and through October?”
She has a Jonathan India update.
MLB.com lists one player who has made a spring training impression for each team.
ROYALS: UTIL Nick Loftin
Most of the roster seems set for the Royals, except for the final spots. That includes the bench, and Loftin has established himself as a frontrunner to grab hold of it, not only because of his performance in Cactus League games, but also his defensive versatility. He’s played everywhere, including the corner outfield, his main positions in the infield and more first base than ever before. He’s also hitting the ball hard and making good swing decisions. Every one of those things has him inching closer to being on the roster come Opening Day.
Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep wonders if the WBC spotlight previews bigger things for Maikel Garcia.
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José Ramírez suffers a shoulder injury in his spring training game Sunday.
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Seiya Suzuki bangs up his knee in the WBC quarterfinal on Saturday.
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Your song of the day John Mellencamp with R.O.C.K. In The USA.
