Preview: Battle of southpaws as USA take on Puerto Rico in first WBSC Premier12 game in Tepic
After the opener between Panama and the Netherlands the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS continues at 4pm local time on Saturday at the brand-new Coloso del Pacifico ballpark in Tepic, Mexico with the matchup between USA and Puerto Rico.
Twoleft-handers will take the mound when the number five and the number eight ofthe current KONAMI/WBSC Men’s Baseball World Rankings square off. Team USA’smanager Mike Scioscia selected veteran Rich Hill, while Puerto Rico’s skipperJuan Gonzalez is putting his faith in Jonathan Bermudez.
29-year-old
Bermudez made his MLB debut for the Miami Marlins this August and pitched to anERA of 8.10 through three appearances. In the Minor Leagues he had an ERA of3.38 splitting time between Triple-A and Double-A. In 101.1 innings pitched hestruck out 99, while walking 50. Drafted by the Houston Astros in 2018 it washis seventh season in professional baseball. He is currently a free agent. In2018 he played for Puerto Rico in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.
He will beopposed on the mound by 44-year-old Hill, a veteran southpaw who made 386appearances in Major League Baseball with a career ERA of 4.01. In 1409 inningspitched he struck out 1428 batters, while walking 543. He played for 13different organisations in the MLB during his 20-year big league career. Hemost recently made four appearances for the Boston Red Sox during the 2024season.
While bothteams are participating for the third time in the WBSC Premier12, its going tobe the first time that USA and Puerto Rico are facing each other in this tournament.
Puerto Rico won its last encounter between the two teams in a WBSC competition,when they edged out USA 4-3 in the Super Round of the WBSC U-18 Baseball WorldCup in 2023. At the senior level they last met in the final of the WorldBaseball Classic 2017, where USA celebrated an 8-0 shutout.
In theprevious WBSC Premier12 events Puerto Rico finished in 8th place in2015 and in 10th in 2019. USA were runner-up in 2015 and claimed 4thplace in the final standings in 2019. Since 2011 they have met eight times inWBSC competitions with Puerto Rico winning five games and USA three.