Santander thrilled to play in World Baseball Classic

SARASOTA, Fla. – Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander is leaving camp on March 6 to join Team Venezuela in Miami for the World Baseball Classic. He’s jumping into a talent-heavy roster that includes Ronald Acuña Jr., Jose Altuve, Luis Arraez, Miguel Cabrera, Andrés Giménez, Gleyber Torres and Salvador Perez. He also can reunite with former Orioles catcher Robinson Chirinos, who remains a free agent.

Which team is better, the Orioles or Venezuela?

“Oh, that’s a tough question, man,” Santander said, smiling. “I think both are kind of the same. Yeah.”  

Santander mentioned an “MVP-caliber player” on his WBC team. Is Santander that guy?

“Could be, yeah,” he said, smiling again.

Santander is usually in a good mood, and he’s naturally excited about playing in the WBC and what it represents.

“That’s something that you can’t explain, represent your country, put that jersey on your chest,” he said. “Bring happiness to the people there, it’s amazing.”

Santander reported to the complex early and began taking batting practice, joining Cedric Mullins in a session against Dean Kremer on the Camden Yards field. Mullins is playing for Team USA and Kremer is joining Israel.

They’ve got to ramp up ahead of the regular schedule.

“It started early in the offseason,” Santander said. “I got to the point where I was already hitting live pitching. You just have the mentality to be ready really early because it’s not a normal spring training. You have to be able to compete like a playoff game early in March, so I had that mentality since last year in the offseason. I feel ready to go.”

Perhaps Santander will cross paths again with Mullins and Kremer. He’s rooting for it, but the chances of getting in the box against Kremer appear slim.

“Ah, amazing,” he said. “I think I won’t face Kremer because he has the first game. We face them in the third game, but it (BP) was fun. He looked amazing. I saw a couple pitches good and I think we’re ready to compete.”

Santander received votes for Most Valuable Oriole, with career highs spread across the line, including his 152 games, 138 hits, 33 home runs, 89 RBIs, 55 walks and .318 on-base percentage. The primary goal as always is to stay healthy, which he couldn’t do until 2022.

“And keep improving, keep improving on my defense-wise, hitting-wise, trying to get more on-base, and try to win, make it to the playoffs,” he said. “We have such a good team, young talent. Just be ready for the season and compete.”

Santander broke into the majors in 2017 as a Rule 5 pick but appeared in only 13 games coming off shoulder surgery. He isn’t used to so much playoff talk in camp.

“I think we’ve got that mentality since last year,” he said. “Now, it’s more realistic. We really have a chance, especially with our young talent.”

Santander will come back to the Orioles and get more work at first base, providing manager Brandon Hyde with a backup option.

“That’s something I’ve been practicing since last year,” Santander said. “Just waiting until that time comes, just to be ready.”

* Left-hander John Means clarified this morning that he’ll throw off a half-mound early next week.

When Hyde said “next week” during yesterday’s media session, he wasn’t talking about this week. Sundays can be confusing.

Means explained that he’s in the “deload” phase. Slow it down and ramp back up next week. It’s part of the process.

Once Means gets on the mound, he can hit the ground running, so to speak, and keep increasing his activity.