Offishial news, 3/15/23: Marlins impacting World Baseball Classic; 2023 MiLB rules

World Baseball Classic Coverage

Marlins Podcast Episodes

• In Tuesday’s Grapefruit League victory over the Astros, Marlins pitchers held the reigning World Series champions scoreless and compiled 13 strikeouts. We got our first glimpse of flame-throwing right-hander Franklin Sánchez, who needs to switch to a smaller hat size (watch the video and you’ll see what I mean).
• In the World Baseball Classic, Jean Segura had a game-winning, walk-off double in the Dominican Republic’s 10-0 win over Israel. You read that correctly: the game ended abruptly following his seventh-inning hit because of the tournament’s “mercy rule” criteria.
• Eury Pérez will be the Marlins starting pitcher today against the Nationals (1:10 p.m. first pitch). Huascar Brazoban, Andrew Nardi, George Soriano and Eli Villalobos are among the pitchers expected to be available in relief. Listen to the Marlins radio call on Fox Sports 940.
• Jesús Luzardo makes his WBC debut today as Venezuela’s starter against Israel. El Extrabase’s Daniel Álvarez-Montes mentions that Marlins minor leaguer Enmanuel De Jesús could debut in relief of him.
• Then at 7:00 p.m., the Dominican Republic turns to Johnny Cueto in a win-or-go-home matchup against Puerto Rico. It’s the mostly highly anticipated game of the classic thus far.
• Mets left-hander José Quintana will undergo bone graft surgery to address a benign lesion on his rib. It’s expected to sideline him for the majority of the regular season.
• Minor League Baseball games in 2023 will use the pitch clock, infield shift restrictions and larger bases, per Baseball America. Triple-A games will feature the automatic ball-strike system, with weekday games using the full ABS system (every pitch) and weekend ones using a challenge system. PitchCom is being added to the Triple-A experience, too. For affiliates in the Southern League—including the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos—the first half of the season will be played with “enhanced grip baseballs.” They’ll switch back to traditional balls on July 13.
• Peter Pratt of Locked On Marlins makes the case that Kim Ng’s contract should be extended beyond 2023.
• Rowan Kavner detailed why the Marlins rank 11th on FOX Sports’ MLB 26-and-under power rankings.
• Trevor Bauer signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball that can increase in value based on marketing incentives, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Shunned by MLB following assault allegations, Bauer hasn’t pitched in a professional game since June 28, 2021.