The Dominican Republic will have one tremendous baseball team for the World Baseball Classic. This event will present teams from around the world where baseball is a major sport. When Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankee third baseman said “yes” to the Dominican team, ordinary fans and experts alike began to try and figure out just what team this nation with over 80 players in the Big Leagues, would be fielding. Some say it is almost as much fun looking at who will not be on the team. For instance, former Rookies of the Year, Raul Mondesi and Angel Berroa won’t make the team, and young up and coming stars like Willy Tavarez, Jose Reyes and Johnny Peralta won’t be on the roster either. Gold Glover Neifi Perez is not there, nor is 20-game winner Jose Lima.
In fact, the leading all-time Hispanic home run hitter (583) Sammy Sosa, will just make the team as a substitute, and the perennial batsman Julio Franco will be a bench coach. According to the Listin Diario, the Dominican team is more powerful than the 1927 Yankees that had five .300 batters or the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati that had an All Star at each position.
Just for fun the sportswriters at the Listin Diario drew up this line-up:
PlayerPositionAverageHRRBIs