Puerto Rico’s coaching staff just picked up a few new legends. With Carlos Beltrán as GM, Yadier Molina returning to manage and Francisco Lindor leading the way as team captain, hopes were already high that Puerto Rico could finally win its first World Baseball Classic after second-place finishes in 2013 and ‘17.
On Tuesday, the team added a little more notoriety to its coaching staff, bringing on Hall of Fame DH Edgar Martinez and two-time MVP Award winner Juan González. While Martinez – who is currently the Mariners’ senior director of hitting strategy – will be making his national team coaching debut, González brings a wealth of experience.
Juan Gone was on the team’s coaching staff at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classic tournaments, and he collected gold medals as the skipper of the senior team at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2018 and the Pan American Games in 2019. He also led the club at the 2019 and 2024 Premier12 tournaments and managed the U-23 team to a best-ever silver medal finish at the 2024 U-23 World Cup.
Martinez and González are just the latest big names to join up for next year’s World Baseball Classic: Albert Pujols will manage the powerful Dominican Republic lineup, Andruw Jones moved up from Netherlands bench coach to team skipper, Dusty Baker will lead Nicaragua, and USA manager Mark DeRosa will call upon Andy Pettitte and Matt Holliday among his coaching staff.