{"id":662992,"date":"2026-03-17T22:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/662992\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:25:12","slug":"usa-wbc-lineup-stirs-controversy-without-former-rookie-of-the-year-all-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/662992\/","title":{"rendered":"USA WBC lineup stirs controversy without former Rookie of the Year, All-Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States will attempt to defeat Venezuela in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic<\/a> on March 17 without two of its most accomplished players.<\/p>\n

MORE: Clayton Kershaw, son share heartwarming moment before WBC final<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Third baseman Gunnar Henderson and catcher Cal Raleigh were nowhere to be found, replaced by Alex Bregman and Will Smith, respectively, in manager Mark DeRosa\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n

Overall, Henderson is hitting .429 (highest of any U.S. player) in three WBC games. The 2024 American League Rookie of the Year went 4-for-5 in a 9-1 pool play win over Great Britain on March 7. He homered during an 8-6 pool play loss to Italy on March 10.<\/p>\n

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In the U.S.\u2019 semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic on March 15, Henderson hit the game-tying home run in the fourth inning.<\/p>\n

Raleigh, who hit an American League-leading 60 home runs last year for the Seattle Mariners, is 0 for 9 in the tournament. Smith, who caught the semifinal win against the Dominican Republic, is hitting .300 (3 for 10) in the tournament.<\/p>\n

The real surprise was the inclusion of Bregman, who\u2019s 2-for-11 (.182) in four tournament games.<\/p>\n

In the Orioles\u2019 spring training camp in Sarasota, Florida, Henderson\u2019s teammates were rooting for him<\/a> to be in the lineup against Venezuela.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think (Henderson) made a pretty good impression for the championship game,\u201d Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday told Jake Rill of MLB.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/strong>Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories on The Big Lead <\/strong><\/a>\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The post USA WBC lineup stirs controversy without former Rookie of the Year, All-Star<\/a> appeared first on The Big Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States will attempt to defeat Venezuela in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":662993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[2730,4711,280562,7480,108929,22898,68706,1266,26092,1288,62,1348,278212,67,132,68,32322,5956,182121],"class_list":["post-662992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-alex-bregman","tag-cal-raleigh","tag-championship-game","tag-clayton-kershaw","tag-gunnar-henderson","tag-jackson-holliday","tag-mason-miller","tag-mlb","tag-orioles","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-team-usa","tag-team-venezuela","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-venezuela","tag-will-smith","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116246867266929882","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}