Who To Watch In The WBC: Bregman At The Hot Corner, Bogaerts Leads The Netherlands

The U.S. faces Great Britain in its second World Baseball Classic game Saturday in Houston, but there are a couple of key clashes on tap, at least if these teams want to advance out of pool play.

The Netherlands, a dark horse candidate to get out of the top-heavy Pool D in Miami, lost its opener to Venezuela 6-2. Now, the Netherlands faces Nicaragua, a country making its second WBC appearance and managed by Dusty Baker. Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) is already 0-2, having mustered a total of four hits against Australia and Japan, and now faces South Korea (1-0).

Otto Lopez, Canada

The 27-year-old Miami Marlins shortstop has started to make a name for himself the last two seasons. As Canada is set to play its WBC opener vs. Colombia, Lopez is hoping to put his all-around skills on display. He flashed more power in 2025, following up a six-homer 2024 by going deep 15 times last year. His OPS+ each of the last two seasons (91, 86) is still below average, showing that Lopez still has strides to make. He had a .121 ISO in 2025, which was 17 points higher than 2024, but still 37 points shy of the MLB average. He doesn't sting the ball, having an exit velocity of 88.5 mph that is in the 26th percentile.

Masataka Yoshida, Japan

For a player with a three-year MLB slash line of .282/.337/.425 and getting paid $37.2 million over this season and 2027, the 32-year-old Boston Red Sox outfielder doesn't seem to have a significant role with his MLB team. But it is different in the WBC with Japan, where he was the starting left fielder and batted cleanup in Japan's WBC opener. The left-handed hitter went 2-for-3, scored twice and drove in another in Japan's 13-0 rout of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan). He also drew a walk and had an RBI double in the fifth inning to make it 5-0.

Dan Altavilla, Italy

The right-hander in Minnesota Twins camp on a minor-league deal figures to be a key member of Italy's bullpen in the WBC. He is coming off a 2025 with the Chicago White Sox in which he had a 5.45 FIP yet a 2.48 ERA in 28 games and 29 innings. Altavilla has plenty of MLB experience, pitching in parts of eight seasons. While he has a slightly above-average career strikeout rate at 24.4%, his walk rate is poor at 12.3%, which is about 25% higher than the MLB average. However, his strikeout rate took a dramatic dip in 2025 to 17.5%.

Alex Bregman, U.S.

There are many ways for a hitter to make an impact on a game. And the new Chicago Cubs third baseman, while not a headline-grabber in the closer-than-it-looked 15-5 U.S. win over Brazil in the Americans' opener, Bregman played the role of table-setter. Bregman officially went 0-for-1, but he did draw a whopping four walks, was hit by a pitch, scored twice and had an RBI (on his last walk). Of course, Brazil did issue 17 walks. Still, that type of patience bodes well not only for a U.S. offense that will need that type of patience in the knockout rounds, but something the Cubs will appreciate. Bregman has a career walk rate of 11.8%, with a peak of 17.2% in 2019 when he led MLB in free passes with 119 and finished runner-up in the AL MVP race to Mike Trout.

Xander Bogaerts, Netherlands

The shortstop's spot in the San Diego Padres' batting order is up in the air as new manager Craig Stammen tinkers with his top four, but with the Netherlands, Bogaerts is entrenched as the No. 3 hitter. The 33-year-old and the Netherlands got off to a slow start, dropping the opener to Venezuela 6-2. Bogaerts went 1-for-5 with a strikeout and also couldn't come up with a sharp backhand grounder by former Padres teammate Luis Arraez with a drawn-in infielder to put Venezuela up 1-0. Bogaerts is a leader on this roster and will need to deliver for even moderate WBC success.