With the 2026 World Baseball Classic set to begin in March, the preliminary roster for Puerto Rico is here. Initial rosters are subject to change. Read on below for our team summary and breakdown of top players and prospects to know.<\/p>\n
Find all of our WBC coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Team Summary: Puerto Rico has participated in every World Baseball Classic since its inception in 2006. In 2023, the team\u2019s run ended in the quarterfinals at the hands of the United States. Now, in 2026, Puerto Rico returns with home-field advantage in the first round and a roster featuring six all-stars. <\/p>\n The strength of this team is its lineup, with a blend of established players and promising young hitters who have shown poise in the past. Puerto Rico is missing several stars, like Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa and Javier Baez, after several players including Lindor were denied insurance coverage for the event. Their inclusion would have made this team more capable of a championship, but it\u2019s still deep enough to make a semifinal run.<\/p>\n Top Players: Nolan Arenado<\/a>, a former USA player, leads the roster with 10 all-star nods and eight Gold Gloves. The 34-year-old provides veteran leadership after hitting .237 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs last season before being traded to the Diamondbacks. Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a>, who tore his patellar tendon in the 2023 WBC, rebounded in 2025 with a 1.63 ERA, 98 strikeouts and 28 saves before signing with the Dodgers. Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos<\/a> has back-to-back 20-homer seasons. <\/p>\n Best Prospects: Righthander Elmer Rodriguez<\/a> is Baseball America\u2019s No. 59 prospect<\/a> and the Yankees\u2019 No. 2. Last year, he pitched a 2.58 ERA across High-A, Double-A and Triple-A with 176 strikeouts.<\/p>\n Pool A<\/p>\n Puerto Rico<\/p>\n Cuba<\/p>\n Canada<\/p>\n Panama<\/p>\n Colombia<\/p>\n Dates\/Location: March 6-11, San Juan, Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n Puerto Rico World Baseball Classic Roster<\/p>\n playerpOSbatsthrowsheightweightagemlb orgclubBurgos, RaymondLHPLL6-0520927\u2013Cruz, FernandoRHPRR6-0223735NYYNew York YankeesDe L\u00e9on, Jos\u00e9RHPRR6-0022033D\u00edaz, EdwinRHPRR6-0316531LADLos Angeles DodgersEspada, JoseRHPRR6-0017028BALOrioles (AAA)Garcia, Joshua (Rico)RHPRR5-0920132BALBaltimore OriolesL\u00f3pez, JorgeRHPRR6-0320032\u2013Lugo, Jacob (Seth)RHPRR6-0422536KCKansas City RoyalsMor\u00e1n, JovaniLHPLL6-0116728BOSBoston Red SoxQuinones, LuisRHPRR6-0020528MINSt. Paul Saints (AAA)Reyes, AngelRHPRR6-0220528\u2013R\u00edos, YackselRHPRR6-0321532CHCIowa Cubs (AAA)Rivera, EduardoLHPLL6-0723722BOSPortland Sea Dogs (AA)Rodr\u00edguez, ElmerRHPLR6-0316022NYYNew York YankeesRodr\u00edguez, GabrielLHPLL6-0119326\u2013Velez, RicardoRHPRR6-0118027TEXFrisco RoughRiders (AA)Maldonado, MartinCRR6-0023039\u2013V\u00e1zquez, ChristianCRR5-0820535\u2013Arenado, NolanINFRR6-0221534AZArizona DiamondbacksArroyo, EdwinINFSR5-1117322CINCincinnati RedsHernaiz, DarellINFRR6-0019024ATHAthleticsRivera, EmmanuelINFRR6-0022529\u2013V\u00e1zquez, LuisINFRR6-0016526BALNorfolk TidesCastro, WilliOFSR6-0020628COLColorado RockiesCortes, CarlosOFLS5-0719728ATHAthleticsLugo, MatthewOFRR6-0019024LAALos Angeles AngelsMelendez, MJOFLR6-0119027\u2013Ramos, HeliotOFRR5-1123026SFSan Francisco GiantsRosario, EddieOFLR6-0018034\u2013Torres, BryanOFLR5-0716528STLSt. Louis Cardinals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the 2026 World Baseball Classic set to begin in March, the preliminary roster for Puerto Rico is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2276],"tags":[10264,5,2291,4,1586],"class_list":{"0":"post-557580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-draft","8":"tag-2026-world-baseball-classic","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-major-league-baseball-draft","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116023032769047118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}