The 2026 edition of the World Baseball Classic doesn’t technically begin until March 6th, but exhibition games will commence on March 3rd. So, the players who will be participating in the event will be scootin’ out of spring training at the end of this week to join their national teams, and the prep work for Opening Day will become a little bit more complicated.
For the Cincinnati Reds, their WBC contingent is highlighted by slugger Eugenio Suárez, who will be joining Team Venezuela. He’s been getting
regular run early in Cactus League play, primarily at his usual spot at 3B, and homered yesterday. Shortstop prospect Edwin Arroyo is also slated to head to the WBC where he’s got a shot at being the starter after New York Mets star Francisco Lindor was forced to bow out with a hamate injury. Arroyo, for the record, singled in the game-tying run in yesterday’s Cactus League contest against the Kansas City Royals in the Bottom of the 9th inning and has looked the part of a Top 100 overall prospect once again now that he’s nearing two full years since undergoing serious shoulder surgery.
MLB.com has an entire section on the upcoming WBC, and it serves as a pretty good clearinghouse for information.
In Reds news, Redleg Nation’s Doug Gray pointed out that lefty Brandon Williamson was averaging 94.4 mph on his heater in yesterday’s 2 IP outing, a mark that’s nearly 2 full mph higher than it was back in 2023. Williamson spoke earlier in spring camp about how his return from Tommy John surgery had really allowed him to let it rip more than he’d been able to for years, and that showed in his return to the mound yesterday. Methinks there’s still a whole lot left of Williamson’s career in Cincinnati, with the only question remaining being just how soon that begins again.
If you like beer, then you’ll be interested to hear that Braxton Brewing Co. is going to be the official craft beer of the Reds going forward. Hooray, beer!
Reds ace Hunter Greene knows the only thing that’s been able to hit him for the last few years is the injury bug, and to help prep for that heading into 2026 he spent a lot of time building up his leg strength. At least, that’s what I’m assuming the ‘lower half’ means in this particular headline, though if you squint you could probably come up with a much, much different interpretation.
Reds closer Emilio Pagan told the crew at Foul Territory that he wouldn’t be joining Team Puerto Rico this year in order to focus on the Reds season itself. The 35 year old re-upped with the Reds in free agency this winter after taking over the closer’s role early in 2025, and it’s clear he’s got one thing and one thing only on his mind heading into 2026 – the Reds winning the whold heckin’ thing.
Finally, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic caught up with Christian Encarnacion-Strand and the two spoke about the struggles the slugging 1B has gone through the last two years. Of note is that CES is now sporting glasses instead of contacts and is also nursing a nagging hamstring injury in camp already. He’s buried on the 1B depth chart at the moment, but there’s still a chance he can put it together enough to become a part of this Reds club somehow, some way.
