World Baseball Classic: Team Mexico Roster News, Notes, and Analysis

Spring training isn’t the only thing baseball fans have to look forward to in the coming weeks. In March, the World Baseball Classic returns with 20 teams vying for international glory.

It will be a chance for Team Mexico to build upon their most successful tournament finish ever. The squad has played in all five previous iterations of the event but had made it no farther than the quarterfinals in their first four attempts.

2023, however, brought the team’s strongest finish yet. After advancing from pool play, they beat a strong Puerto Rico squad to move to the semifinals and were less than an inning away from a date in the finals before eventual champion Japan came back to break their hearts in the bottom of the ninth.

Team Mexico has their work cut out for them in making another strong run in the tournament. Their pool includes a tough Team Italy as well as arguably the favorites to win it in Team USA, though Mexico is currently riding a three-game winning streak against their neighbors to the north.

Full rosters and coaching staffs were announced late last week. Let’s take a look at who will be suiting up for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

World Baseball Classic: Team Mexico Roster

The 2026 Team Mexico roster contains plenty of familiar faces. Five of the top hit producers from the 2023 roster return this year, as do four of the top five RBI collectors.

Unfortunately, they do lose two of their top contributors from three years ago. Both Isaac Paredes, who finished tied for second on the team with nine hits, and Austin Barnes, who tied for fifth with five and also was tied for second with his four walks, are not on the team this year.

But the roster that remains is still plenty formidable and should put up good numbers in this tournament. Whether they’ll surpass the 37 runs they put up in 2023 remains to be seen.

Position Players

Catchers	Infield	Outfield
ALEJANDRO KIRK	JONATHAN ARANDA	RANDY AROZARENA
ALEXIS WILSON	RAMÓN URÍAS	JARREN DURAN
	JOEY ORTIZ	ALEK THOMAS
	NICK GONAZLES	JULIAN ORNELAS
	ROWDY TELLEZ	ALEJANDRO OSUNA
	JOEY MENESES
	JARED SERNA

Starting off at catcher, Team Mexico gets a huge boost at the position this year with the addition of Alejandro Kirk. Replacing Barnes, he gives them one of the top catching options in the entire tournament.

Alexis Wilson, the backup catcher from the last team, returns to fulfill the same role.

The infield gets shuffled up a bit from the last squad. The familiar faces are on the right side of the field, where Jonathan Aranda, Luis Urias, and Joey Meneses should rotate for coverage.

The new faces are on the left side in the form of Joey Ortiz and Nick Gonzales. Both are MLB players entering their age-27 seasons.

At designated hitter, Rowdy Tellez is back at the helm. He was fourth on the team in the last tournament with seven hits.

Rounding out the infield roster are Ramón Urías, brother of Luis, and Jared Serna, an infielder with the Marlins organization who has yet to make his MLB debut.

Team Mexico will be fielding one of the most solid outfields in the tournament with 2023 WBC destroyer of baseballs Randy Arozarena, Jarren Duran, and Alek Thomas. Duran should move to starting role in place of Verdugo after receiving just five at bats three years ago.

Mexico has two backup outfielders on their roster this year: Alejandro Osuna, who made his MLB debut in 2025 with the Texas Rangers, and Julian Ornelas, who has played for the national team in other respects and whose brother Tirso plays for the Padres organization.

Pitching Staff

Starters	Relievers
TAIJUAN WALKER	ALEXANDER ARMENTA
JOSÉ URQUIDY	BRENNAN BERNADINO
JAVIER ASSAD	ALEX CARRILLO
TAJ BRADLEY	JESÚS CRUZ
	DANIEL DUARTE
	ROBERT GARCIA
	LUIS GASTELUM
	SAMY NATERA
	GERARDO REYES
	VICTOR VODNIK
	ANDRÉS MUÑOZ

The Team Mexico starting rotation gets a bit of a makeover from the 2023 squad. One holdover is José Urquidy, who has pitched in just two MLB games in the last two seasons due to injury.

The other is Taijuan Walker. He only started in one game in the last tournament but threw four scoreless innings on just a hit and a walk with eight strikeouts.

Returning to the team but moving from the bullpen to the rotation is Javier Assad. He also missed a good chunk of the 2025 season because of injury, pitching in just eight games for the Cubs last year.

The other new rotation face is Taj Bradley. The 24-year-old, high-velocity hurler has Mexican heritage through his grandmother and gets to fulfill a personal dream.

If Team Mexico can get it to the late innings with a lead, they’ll have as good a chance as anyone to lock down a win. Closing games will be Andrés Muñoz, one of the top MLB closers over the last two years.

Backing him up will be Victor Vodnik. He has filled a number of different late-inning roles for the Rockies the last two seasons and also has closing experience.

Team Mexico has a number of other relievers with MLB experience as well. Brennan Bernardino, Alex Carrillo, and Robert Garcia have pitched for MLB teams as recently as last year while Jesus Cruz, Daniel Duarte, and Gerardo Reyes have experience from seasons previous to that. They also have a couple pitchers in Luis Gastelum and Samy Natera who are in their respective organizations’ minor league systems and also both received invitations to spring training.

Last but not least in the bullpen is Alexander Armenta who has pitched as a reliever with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the NPB for the last three years. He had a 10.4 K/9 in 46.2 innings last season.

Coaching and Administrative Staff

Role	Coach/Executive
General Manager	Rodrigo López
Manager	Benji Gil
Bench Coach	Vinny Castilla
Pitching Coach	Elmer Dessens
Pitching Coach	Horacio Ramírez
Bullpen Coach	Manny Del Campo
BullpeN CATCHER	Santiago Chavez
Hitting Coach	Jacob Cruz
Hitting Coach	Roberto Magallanes
First Base Coach	Gil Velazquez
tHIRD bASE cOACH	Tony Perezchica

There is a ton of familiarity with the Team Mexico front office and coaching staff. That starts all the way at the top.

Teaming up again are general manager Rodrigo López and team manager Benji Gil. They bring a combined 19 years of MLB experience to the squad, plus a wealth of international experience on top of it.

Bench coach Vinny Castilla, hitting coaches Jacob Cruz and Roberto Magallanes, and pitching coach Elmer Dessens all return to their coaching positions as well. Horacio Ramírez moves from bullpen coach to a fellow pitching coach this year.

The base coaches are also the same as in 2023. Gil Velazquez and Tony Perezchica are back to coach first base and third base, respectively.

Both newcomers to the staff are out in the bullpen where Manny Del Campo takes over as bullpen coach and Santiago Chavez joins as bullpen catcher.

World Baseball Classic: Team Mexico Schedule

Exhibition Games

Team Mexico’s first exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks will be played at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona while their second against the Los Angeles Dodgers is at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.

Date	Opponent	Stadium	Start Time
March 3	vs. Arizona Diamondbacks	Scottsdale	3:10 pm ET / 5:10 pm MT
March 4	vs. Los Angeles Dodgers	Glendale	3:05 pm ET / 5:05 pm MT

Pool Play

Team Mexico is a member of Pool B, which will play from March 6 to 11 at Daikin Park in Houston. Joining them in the pool are Team USA, Team Italy, Team Great Britain, and Team Brazil.

Knockout Rounds

Round	Date	Stadium	Start Time
Quarterfinal	Mar. 13 or 14, 2026	loanDepot Park, Miami	TBA
Semifinal	Mar. 15 or 16, 2026	loanDepot Park, Miami	TBA
Final	Mar. 17, 2026	loanDepot Park, Miami	TBA