00:00I think I want to start with Team Mexico, because Team Mexico was the Cinderella and the darling of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and they return a lot of familiar faces.
00:10This lineup is not as good as the big three that we just talked about, even the big four that we just talked about.
00:16But they're frisky. They're totally frisky, and they showcase that friskiness in the 23 Classic.
00:22Randy Orozarena stood on his head. Are we dismissing the idea that Randy Orozarena has another out-of-body experience for Team Mexico?
00:32Absolutely not. But you're looking at a probable starting lineup of Alejandro Kirk catching, Rowdy Tellez DH-ing, Jonathan Aranda at first, Luis Arias at second, Joey Ortiz at short, Nick Gonzalez at third.
00:45By the way, that's going to be really cool if they share the left side of the infield.
00:48Ortiz and Gonzalez were teammates at New Mexico State in college, and now they get to play together in the World Baseball Classic.
00:55It's not like it's LSU. It's New Mexico State.
00:57And then an outfield of Jaron Duran, Alec Thomas, and Randy Orozarena.
01:02Notable pieces on the bench, Julian Ornelas, Alejandro Osuna with the Texas Rangers, Jared Serna with the Miami Marlins, Joey Manessis, who has bounced around a little bit.
01:11But they fall behind the heavy hitters on the mound.
01:16Tywon Walker, Jose Urquidy, Javier Asad, Taj Bradley, curious about that.
01:22In the rotation, their big hitter in the bullpen, maybe the best bullpen piece in this thing outside of Mason Miller, Andres Munoz, the closer for the Seattle Mariners.
01:30But this offense, I just won't doubt them with what we saw in 23, but on paper, they lack behind the others.
01:36They do, and there's a part of me that wants to call them a sleeper in this tournament, but there's another part of me looking at a roster full of big leaguers.
01:45I'm like, well, how can you be a roster full of big leaguers and be a sleeper at the same time?
01:49Like, I really like this lineup, and I think the outfield with big game Randy, Jaron Duran, and Alec Thomas is a real good one.
01:55And I think Jonathan Aranda is going to raise a lot of eyebrows in this tournament because, you know, he plays down in Tampa.
02:01Not a lot of people have seen him play, but when he's hitting in the middle of this lineup, and he's hitting any pitcher that you can throw at him, he's going to be the guy that I think fans come away from the World Baseball Classic thinking to themselves, I got to watch more Rays games.
02:15I got to watch more of Jonathan Aranda hit.
02:18And then, of course, you have a top three catcher in the world in Alejandro Kirk.
02:21Another player that I'm really excited for fans to watch, Victor Vodnik, reliever with Colorado Rockies, throws fireballs, fuzzballs.
02:31He's going to be sitting 102 miles an hour with all that adrenaline.
02:35That back-end bullpen duo of Vodnik and Munoz must watch.
02:40That's going to be really darn fun.
02:43I just wonder about, like, the big homer.
02:45Where does it come?
02:47The answer is probably a Rosarena or Jaron Duran.
02:50I guess you could clump Rowdy Tellez in there.
02:53A Ronda.
02:53A Ronda, too.
02:54I am really excited to see Alejandro Kirk just, you know, catch for Team Mexico and really try and thrive for them as well.
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