WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: QUARTERFINALS 2 - PUERTO RICO VS MEXICO

March 17, 2023

Alex Verdugo

LoanDepot Park

Team Mexico

Pregame Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started. Who has the first question?

Q. What can you tell us about the Puerto Rico national team? I know you have a lot of -- you know a lot of players on the team. Also, can you tell me, how can you tell your players how do you beat a team like Puerto Rico?

ALEX VERDUGO: I think for us, obviously Puerto Rico's got a really good team. Like you said, I know a lot of guys over there. Everybody can ball out and be really good.

But I think with team Mexico, we got a lot of guys too. Some teams want to underestimate us and everything like that, but at the end of the day, it comes down to pitching. If the pitching can put up zeros and keep the game limited, then we like our chances. With Mexico, with our clubhouse, man, it's a fun vibe in there, everybody's happy, everybody's ready to go out there and play our hearts out. Like I said, baseball, anything can happen. You can have the best lineup on one side and a so-so lineup on the other side and anybody can win.

Q. Your manager was just talking about Randy Arozarena and the impact he's been having on the team. Can you talk about him and how funny and how important he is for you guys.

ALEX VERDUGO: Yeah, I mean, I've played against him a lot, obviously, but he's somebody when he's on your team it's amazing. He's just that guy that you need, especially in these big situations. He doesn't get nervous. You see him out there doing this (indicating.), you see him talking to fans, signing autographs during the game. He's literally there enjoying it, having fun, and I think that's one of the things that we feed off of. Like, we love it and this is a game at the end of the day, and he's having fun playing it.

Q. My question is the following: Mexico looks totally different in this edition from previous WBC's. You were able to beat the United States. The manager said recently that you were not the favorite, you were here fighting for the quarterfinals. What kind of energy do you have in the Mexican team compared to previous editions?

ALEX VERDUGO: Yeah, I think for us it's the pitching staff. Obviously, we've got good hitters, we've got guys that go out there and they can swing it. But for me, it's the pitching. We got really good arms, and I think being in the playoffs, being in all that, this is a playoff atmosphere and pitching wins games. You keep guys to limited runs, pitching always wins. That's the difference is we got really good pitching and a great team.

Q. This is a similar question. You may not have been intimately involved with Mexican baseball in the last few years, but you've been around these last couple weeks. You've been around Benji, Vinny, guys who have been. Just your impression of baseball in Mexico and its development based on your time with this national team.

ALEX VERDUGO: Yeah, obviously there's a lot of guys that go down there, play baseball, play winter league, play summer league, whatever it is out there. I think we're kind of seeing it. We're kind of seeing 'em on the big stage, seeing these guys come up here, and it's one of those things that I think -- obviously more known for soccer out there and things like that, but they really care about baseball down there. These guys, we have seen it in the big leagues where more Mexican players are breaking through and getting up to the big leagues, so it's just, they're on their way and these players, anybody can play, man. Anybody can play and anybody has a chance. I think that's the biggest thing we're trying to get out there.

Q. What does it mean for you representing Mexico in this tournament?

ALEX VERDUGO: It means everything. I love this. They're ain't nothing -- there's nothing more fun than putting this jersey on, playing out here and the atmosphere, just representing your country, having all the Mexicans out there just yelling, making noise with the horns, the hats. It's just been some of the funnest baseball, if not the funnest baseball, that you will play, and I'm grateful to be here for my second WBC.

Q. Have you had some fun with Alex Cora as far as who is he rooting for tonight and just your give-and-take for this tournament?

ALEX VERDUGO: I haven't talked too much to him about this, but I'm sure whatever the outcome is of this game, we'll be hearing about it all year, you know what I mean? Whether it's from Kike, whether it's from AC. So this is a big one for us. Obviously, we want to take it and we want those bragging rights, so we're going to go out there and do everything we can to kind of keep throwing shots at 'em all year.

Q. You're facing Marcus Stroman, a guy who throws a ton of strikes. How do you do damage against a guy like that in basically Game 7 of a World Series.

ALEX VERDUGO: Yeah, he's not going to give in. He's going to pitch to his game plan. He's going to stay away from the middle of the plate. He wants to feed off your aggressiveness. He wants you to get yourself out.

So I think it's a mentality of get the next guy up, get the next guy up, just play small ball, shoot the hole, make some contact and just keep getting the next guy up. And we have Randy, we got Joey, we got Rowdy, we got guys that can do damage, guys that can drive in runs, and the biggest thing is just get runners on and keep that line moving and make him throw strikes and swing at pitches that we want.

Q. You said before the whole tournament you've been seen like the underdogs. You came from a group, the United States was favorite, tonight many people think Puerto Rico is the favorite. So do you think that gives you extra motivation? And also have you spoken to Rafe about what can you do against the Puerto Rico and pitching?

ALEX VERDUGO: Yeah, I think being the underdog is kind of like a blessing in disguise, right? Because when you're expected to win, it's a little bit more pressure, I feel like. I feel like for Puerto Rico they're expected to beat us and they have to live up to that expectation. If we go out there not expecting to win, from the media, obviously in the clubhouse, we know we're going to win. We know we have a great chance.

When the outside noise comes in, it's just we know that anything can happen in this game, so being the underdog does not scare us, being the underdog does not fear us. It was the same way against USA, and we went out there and we played our butts off and ended up beating them by a good amount.

So, like I said, anything can happen in baseball and that's the thing, that's why we love baseball, right? It doesn't matter if you have an all-star lineup, anybody can get beat, anybody can have a bad day. So we're excited with that and we're happy with where we're at and we're going to go out there, got a great starter on the mound, and we're going to play our hearts out.

Q. What do you think about the Puerto Rico players and what do you think about Randy Arozarena?

ALEX VERDUGO: Yeah, obviously Puerto Rico's stacked. They got a lot of guys out there that have Gold Gloves, All-Star games and all these things that you get in the big leagues. So they're very good team. We're not under estimating 'em. We know we have a challenge in store for us. But you mentioned it, too. Randy, right. Like we know we got Randy on our side, right. That's somebody who is swinging it hotter than anybody right now.

Like I said, we're going to go out there, play with passion, play with our hearts and give it everything we got and we know by the end of the day we'll have a good chance and be where we want to be.

Q. Dominican, Venezuela and Puerto Rico play in the same pool. Only two pass. Do you think it's fair have these three teams in the same pool or do you think that they can be separate for the next WBC?

ALEX VERDUGO: It's kind of hard. That's a very tough pool. That's arguably three of the best teams in this tournament, so it's one of those things. If they're together, they're together. I don't know. It's just you got to win, right, no matter what. Like everybody's got the even chance. Everybody's got the same chance. At the end of the day Puerto Rico and Venezuela, they handled business and they knocked off one of the favorite teams, the Dominican Republic. That's, like I said, that's why I love baseball. I love baseball. It doesn't matter what team's the most stacked, what team has the most all stars, what team has the most MVPs, Cy Youngs, there's no -- it don't matter. It's about who comes out and who performs today. That's what we love about this game.

Q. What do you think is the biggest thing you've learned about Joey Meneses that you didn't know about him heading into this tournament?

ALEX VERDUGO: I mean, I kind of saw it last year. Obviously when he came up and he was just hitting balls all over the field. But I just think his overall approach, the way he goes about it, the way he plays, how he hits. He's a guy who can go line to line. He can go left field, right field. He's got power in all different aspects. But he's also a guy who puts the ball in play and just gets hits. So he's a fun player, man. He's a fun player to watch.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you.