The Dominican Republic has a brand new supervisor for the 2026 World Baseball Basic, and it stands to be a well-liked rent.
Albert Pujols has been chosen to take over the D.R.’s dugout because it makes an attempt to win its second WBC title, in line with ESPN. Nelson Cruz, the staff’s basic supervisor, reportedly plans to make an official announcement by the top of March.
Pujols simply completed his first stint as a supervisor, main the Leones del Escogido to their first title in additional than a decade within the D.R.’s LIDOM this winter.
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On the nationwide staff, Pujols will take over for Rodney Linares, at the moment the Tampa Bay Rays’ bench coach. The staff is coming off a disappointing 2023 WBC by which it didn’t make it out of group play as a consequence of losses to Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
Within the 5 WBC occasions since 2006, the worldwide baseball powerhouse has received as soon as, with an undefeated run in 2013. That was additionally the final time the D.R. reached the semifinals, which it has performed solely twice.
The 2026 staff has loads of potential gamers who may attempt to break that stoop. The 2023 staff featured Juan Soto, Julio Rodríguez, Willy Adames, Rafael Devers, Manny Machado, Sandy Alcantara and Cristian Javier, and there are extra Dominican gamers who may compete, similar to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., José Ramírez, Elly De La Cruz, Luis Castillo, Framber Valdez and Emmanuel Clase.
A few of these gamers play the identical place, however a part of Pujols’ job can be to get as a lot of them on the sphere as attainable for the WBC.
Pujols was a member of the D.R.’s first WBC staff in 2006.
