WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D - NICARAGUA VS VENEZUELA

March 14, 2023

Sandor Guido

LoanDepot Park

Team Nicaragua

Postgame Press Conference

Venezuela-4, Nicaragua-1

Q. Sandor, first of all, I wanted to ask you, what are the lessons learned by you and the team, Nicaragua, and also the final hug with the players?

SANDOR GUIDO: Well, first of all, we have gained a lot of experience in this tournament. It's incredible what we did considering the quality of the teams we faced. Even when we got negative results, we did a good job.

We were not an easy opponent, as many people thought, and it is our first time in the Classic, a lot of lessons. We will continue working hard, God willing, if I continue being the manager of the team, and we learned many lessons. It's a tournament with a very high level.

We are brothers, Venezuela and Nicaragua. It was something fantastic from them. We wish them all the success in the rest of the tournament.

Q. Which of the players surprised you more, or the most, from the different countries?

SANDOR GUIDO: They all have very high quality and talent. Seeing the Venezuelan pitchers throwing 96, 97, almost 100 with Alvarado, pitchers that we are not used to facing in our tournament and even in the professional league.

The quality of the Dominican Republic, as well as seeing Machado, Soto. All those things are great. It is not easy to face them. To play those teams has been very difficult.

And in Nicaragua, we don't have many stars in the Majors, and that makes all the difference in games like this.

Q. After your first experience as a manager of Team Nicaragua, what have you seen in this first tournament? What, in your opinion, should Nicaragua do in order to improve and have better results in a tournament like this one?

SANDOR GUIDO: Well, the young players playing in our country should have that drive, that thirst, you know, to go higher. They should sign with an organization to do their best, to work hard. They should be more competitive on all the teams. That way our baseball will be more developed, and we will be able to compete in more international championships.

We have talent, and our players in the organization, I wish them the best of luck.

Q. After these four games, what's the analysis, weaknesses and strengths that you can make of the future of Team Nicaragua? And Jonathan, why only one inning?

SANDOR GUIDO: That's what the organization authorized us, to pitch only one inning. That was out of our control.

The defense was great. The offense was good as well, but we left many runners on base. The pitching was okay, but we have to be perfect. We can't make mistakes, et cetera. In order to have good results, we didn't have enough offense to beat the other teams. We only scored one run in each game, and there is no way to win like this.

Q. If you had to make a ranking of the best moments of Team Nicaragua, what would be the best for you? Because, for example, the performance of Rodriguez versus Puerto Rico, Erasmo dominating the first three innings. What would be the most emotional moment?

SANDOR GUIDO: Duque yesterday. To me that was the best moment for us. He is a 21-year-old guy. We selected him, and it was very important for us.

And the three innings pitched by Erasmo today, the home run hit by Miranda versus Venezuela, so there were many moments. I'm very proud of the guys. I feel that they tried to do their best. Great experience for the whole team.

This is something positive for the country. We gained experience, and Nicaragua was present in a World Classic. We hope to be playing in the next edition as well.

Q. We saw Team Nicaragua playing hard in all the games, giving everything on the field. What's the factor that you would highlight, and what aspect should be improved looking forward?

SANDOR GUIDO: Our offense. The hitters. Like I said before, we play baseball all year long, but we don't see the speed of this level of pitching. They have the best baseball in the world here, so we didn't have international competitions.

When we get more adapted, it's going to be little by little. These are things we have to improve. We have to work on that and to learn every day. I liked the performance of Montes, Alegria, Miranda, Valle, and the pitchers as well.

I liked that kind of performance. These are some things that we have to improve. We have to work on this. This is very high level. We compete in Central America and the Caribbean tournaments. We go to the Pan American Games, and we can win, but this is a totally different level. Another level of competition that we have to face the best of the world.

Thank you.