The Ghost of Dbacks WBCs past

Mar 24, 2023 - 1:00 PM

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Last night (I am writing this Thursday evening, so “last night is Wednesday.” This will be important later) I was kind of toying with the idea of looking at box scores and seeing who represented the Dbacks in past World Baseball Classics and how they did. I figured if I was going to go down a rabbit hole and spend an after noon looking at old game logs and box scores anyway, I might as well turn it into an article. Without further ado, here are the Dbacks that were either currently on the team or past/future Dbacks that would be recognizable names. In other words, I've omitted the, “Who’s?” for the most part.

2006

The inaugural WBC was won buy Japan 10-6 over Cuba. The third place team was South Korea, who strangely was 6-1 while the aforementioned were 5-3. No Dbacks participated in the final matchup. Miguel Batista represented the Dominican Republic in this one. Edgar Gonzalez, for Mexico, was the only other “current” Dback in this one. Gee, I wonder why, let’s look at the previous two seasons....Oh, right.

There was a whole host of former Dbacks in this one. Representing Korea was Byun-Hyung Kim (Rockies). Alex Cintron (White Sox) for Puerto Rico. Mexico had Erubiel Durazo, Karim Garcia, Oscar Villarreal, Elmer Dessens (Royals) and future Dback Rodrigo Lopez (Orioles) on their roster. Mexico’s manager, Benji Gil, of this past WBC was a player as well.

There’s really no information I can really find on this WBC. I was wanting to look at box scores but I can only find links that redirect to a blank page or just flat out 404 errors (page/file not found). Kim did have 2 holds for Korea, however. If you really want to get technical, future Dback (for 6 games), Dontrelle Willis led this WBC in walks with 6.

2009

Japan once again won this WBC, beating South Korea 5-3. Venezuela was the 3rd place team. No Dbacks past or present were on either of the first two teams’ rosters. Gerardo Parra did play for Venezuela, though. Other than Parra, another “current” Dback was Trent Oeltjen, Patron Saint of Snakepit Females, representing Australia. He helped the Aussies beat Mexico, 17-7 by going 4-5 with a walk, run and RBI. Felipe Lopez represented Puerto Rico. Tony Pena played for Dominican Republic, allowing a single in 2 innings pitched.

Iannetta, Putz, and Brad Ziegler were all on Team USA, as well as some uh, forgettable future Dbacks. Putz got a save against Canada in pool play.

Once again, Mexico had a bunch of current and former Dbacks, Augie Ojeda, Rodrigo Lopez, Durazo, Garcia, Rod Barajas and Scott Hairston. Durazo went 0-1, Lopez allone one run in two innings and Garcia was Mexico’s best player batting .421/.450/.885 with 3 homers, 5 runs and 5 RBI in five games.

2013

The 2013 edition of the WBC was won by the Dominican Republic. They beat Puerto Rico by a score of 3-0. Japan came in 3rd and the Dutch in 4th, their best finish.

Garcia, Lopez and Villarreal were all still on Mexico’s roster for this one. David Hernandez, Heath Bell and Willie Bloomquist all represented the USA in this one. Which, was surprising, since Goldschmidt was to begin his 2nd full season. I suppose that would be 20/20 hindsight, since he was still a young player and hadn't broken out yet. Parra, Montero and Prado represented Venezuela. Prado went 5-11, with 3 doubles, 2 runs and 2 RBI.

There was another future Dback. He played for Cuba. I am not going to go into deadhorse.gif territory.

Of interest to me at least, Lorenzo Barcelo pitched for the Dominican Republic in this one. He had played for the Independent League Tucson Toros (different franchise than the former AAA team. They stole the name) he started 16 games, going 8-5 with a 4.20 ERA in 2009. ANother much more recognizable name from that squad, and future Dback, was Tom Wilhelmsen.

2017

In the 2017 classic, USA beat Puerto Rico 8-0 and Japan was in third, followed by the Dutch at #4. Obviously, Goldy and future Dback Adam Jones played for USA. Prado, Inciarte and Silvino “borracho” Bracho all played for the Venezuelans. Yoshi played for Japan. Fernando Rodney for the Dominicans. Goldschmidt played a backup 1B role to Eric Hosmer for USA. He only batted 1-13. I am actually kind of surprised that the 2017 WBC had so few dbacks. That said, the first two were former World Champion heavy.

The 2021 WBC was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. DBE is recapping Dbacks participation in the recently concluded WBC. I actually randomly had the idea for this article last night [Thursday night], having no idea DBE was going to write his article [Friday]. So this is a nice little one-two punch. There are some Dbacks I did not include, because I wanted to make this be mostly players who were currently on the team or recognizable past names. My 2006 entry one would have been one sentence....ok, more than that, but still.

Here is the link to DBE’s 2023 recap of Dback players’ performances:

https://www.azsnakepit.com/2023/3/23/23647544/dominic-fletcher-best-diamondbacks-performance-at-the-wbc