Worldwide Sports News

It is official, Ronald Acuña Jr. will be playing for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic this year for his second appearance since debuting with the team in 2023 during the WBC.

That year, he experienced going to the quarterfinals with the team, but fell to Team USA in the end.

It was just last November when it was announced that Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez would take the role as captain for Team Venezuela, but it was unknown how the remainder of the roster would shake up after more players seemed to announce their commitments to their respective teams.

Finally, this Thursday (1/29), additions have been made to join Perez as Ronald Acuña Jr, Wilyer Abreu, Maikel Garcia, and Jackson Chourio have been announced to represent the team.

Acuña made an epic comeback last season when he returned in May and played a total of 95 games with a .935 OPS. Presented with the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year title, he is looking forward to picking up where he left off with a healthy season with the Braves. First off, though, an appearance with his home team, before entering the 2026 season.

Venezuela is set to play in Pool D of the World Baseball Classic on March 6 against the Netherlands at 12:00 p.m ET at loanDepot park in Miami.

While announcing the Craig Kimbrel signing that had already been reported upon, the Mets also revealed another low-stakes acquisition of a veteran player. The team has inked long-time Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.

The 36-year-old Barnes had spent over a decade in the Dodgers organization, dating back to being acquired in a trade from the Marlins in 2014. He made his big league debut in 2015 and—outside from an outlier 2017 season in which he put up a 142 wRC+ and 3.7 fWAR—has largely served as a glove-first backup catcher. He was finally released by Los Angeles last May and was subsequently signed by the Giants the following month. Barnes had a brief unremarkable stint in San Francisco’s minor league system before he was released by them in August.

Now Barnes will try to find a new home with the Mets. Of course, assuming Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens remain healthy, the odds of him breaking camp with the team are virtually non-existent. Barnes will instead likely be battling with Hayden Senger—himself a glove-first backstop with little to no offensive prowess, but one who has the benefit of youth—to serve as the team’s third catcher option in case one of their top two guys go down at any point. If he does not win that battle, then he may well ultimately find himself being released by a third team in the near future.

Austin Barnes, who won a pair of World Series titles with the Dodgers, signed a minor league deal with the Mets, the team announced Thursday.

Barnes received an invitation to major league spring training.

The 36-year-old Barnes appeared in just 13 games for the Dodgers last season before he was released in May.

A month later, Barnes signed a minor league contract with the Giants, but didn’t make it back to the majors and was released in August.

He’ll try to extend his career with the Mets, who have Francisco Alvarez, Luis Torrens and Hayden Senger on their 40-man roster.

Barnes spent 11 seasons with Los Angeles, most recently as a backup to Will Smith, prior to being designated for assignment to make room for catching prospect Dalton Rushing.

Known for his excellent work behind the plate, Barnes appeared in the playoffs in eight of his 11 seasons with the Dodgers.

The Mets also announced their signing of Craig Kimbrel to a minor league contract with an invite to major league spring training after the 37-year-old former closer split last season between Atlanta and Houston.

Kuyashii.

There isn’t an English equivalent to this Japanese word, which covers a wide range of emotions related to frustration.

You can feel kuyashii because you failed. Or because you gave your best and it wasn’t enough. Or because you didn’t give your best. Or because you were upset by what someone said. Or because you were humiliated.

Whatever the source of the anguish, ultimately you feel kuyashii because you can’t accept what happened.

In a television special by NHK that was aired in Japan last month, Shohei Ohtani reflected on his pitching performance against the Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series.

Only four days removed from his previous start, Ohtani looked gassed. He barely escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. In the third, disaster struck, as he served up a three-run home run to Bo Bichette. The Dodgers were down, 3-0. With only one out in the inning, Ohtani was replaced by Justin Wrobleski.

Slipping into the past tense, Ohtani said to NHK of the home run by Bichette: “Kuyashikatta.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sensed what Ohtani was feeling when he removed the ball from his hand on the Rogers Centre mound.

“There was a lot of frustration,” Roberts said, “maybe some anger.”

Reaching greater heights

Before leaving his home country in late 2017, Ohtani staged a news conference in Tokyo. There, he clearly articulated his goal for his upcoming MLB adventure.

“As long as you’re playing baseball,” Ohtani said, “I think it’s natural to want to be the No. 1 player.”

That designation has belonged to him for the last five years, a period in which he has won four MVP awards. His move to the Dodgers two years ago helped him fill the most significant gap in his resume. The Dodgers recovered from his 2 ⅓-inning start in Game 7 and went on to beat the Blue Jays, making him a back-to-back World Series champion.

But what makes a four-time MVP is an ability to discover new forms of inspiration, and Roberts thinks Ohtani’s memories of his final start will propel him to greater heights.

“There’s always something that Shohei needs to fuel him,” Roberts said. “He’s already the best player in the game, most likely, probably, the best to ever lace them up. So, how does he keep motivated? Things that have frustrated him or angered him. And going short in Game 7 probably is something that he’s not gonna let happen again.”

Ohtani is extremely polite in formal environments and playful when interacting with his teammates, his demeanor concealing the intensity described by Roberts. But it’s there.

Ohtani is Kobe Bryant with a glove and a bat.

Roberts thinks it’s entirely possible this is the year in which Ohtani wins the only major prize that has eluded his grasp in his first eight seasons: the Cy Young Award.

“I would not be surprised to see him and (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto both vying for a Cy Young in ‘26 and be (in) the top-three conversation all year,” Roberts said.

Responding to challenges

Ohtani was made available by the Dodgers in a news conference between games 2 and 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers. Because he was in an offensive slump, he was asked multiple questions about how his pitching affected his hitting. The viability of his two-way role was being questioned. 

Two days later, Ohtani shut up his skeptics, blasting three home runs and striking out 10 batters over six scoreless innings.

Ohtani has said he isn’t motivated by what reporters say or write about him. However, when he’s in situations that would make the average person feel kuyashii, he responds with performances that redefine the boundaries of reality.

When he joined the Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Japanese league out of high school, his decision to be a two-way player was criticized by the country’s baseball establishment, which accused him of underestimating professional competition.

Within a few years, he was the best player in the league — as a two-way player.

When Ohtani moved to the United States, he struggled at the plate in his first spring training with the Angels, inspiring questions of whether he could hit in the majors.

In the season that followed, he was named the Rookie of the Year — primarily as a hitter because an elbow injury limited him to 10 games pitched.

When he was told by Angels management before the 2021 season that he wouldn’t have any days off built into his schedule — he previously didn’t play the days before and after he pitched — he thought the team was trying to force him to give up either pitching or hitting.

Ohtani went on to win his first MVP award.

People familiar with Ohtani’s history, including Roberts, know what this means. Ohtani will be a monster of a pitcher this year.

Pushing the boundaries

Ohtani was the No. 3 starter on a Dodgers postseason rotation that included Blake Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, and Yamamoto, the World Series MVP.

Outside of that last start against the Blue Jays, Ohtani performed well as a pitcher, going 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA in the three other games he started. The team’s reliance on him obscured what Ohtani was up against last season, spending most of the year rehabilitating.

Ohtani didn’t throw a pitch in his first season with the Dodgers in 2024, as he was recovering from an elbow operation he underwent the previous year. He returned to the mound in mid-June of last year, but even then, he was in recovery mode. His overwhelming talent allowed him to rehabilitate in major league games, first by pitching just an inning, then two, then three. His first five-inning start was in the last week of August.

Studying data about the control problems of pitchers in their first year back from Tommy John surgery, Ohtani adjusted his delivery to generate more velocity on his pitches. Previously, he placed more emphasis on control than speed, he told NHK.

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Now, in his second year back from his second elbow reconstruction, the 31-year-old Ohtani should be able to pitch in a way that he believes is most effective.

Roberts doesn’t expect Ohtani to make the 28 to 32 starts generally required for a pitcher to be considered for the Cy Young Award — the manager said he wants to be mindful of Ohtani’s pitching future — but the two-way star could be ready to have the most complete season of his career. 

He’s healthy. He’s in his prime. And, considering how last season ended, he might have the inducement to once again push the boundaries of what’s possible.

The Mets have added some catching depth, signing Austin Barnes to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to big league spring training.

Barnes, 36, is an 11-year veteran, having spent his entire career to this point with the Dodgers -- mainly in a backup role.

He had a .518 OPS in 44 plate appearances over 13 games last season.

For his career, Barnes has slashed .223/.322/.338 (.660 OPS) with 35 home runs, 63 doubles, and 162 RBI.

Defensively, Barnes has typically been above average when it comes to blocking balls in the dirt and framing.

Francisco Alvarez is expected to be New York's starting catcher this season, with Luis Torrens slated to be the backup. 

Outside T-Mobile Park, at the corner of Edgar and Dave, a small crowd gathers.

They wear well-loved King’s Court t-shirts, increasingly esoteric shirseys and BreakingT collabs whose pit stains betray their age. One of them has on a few different variations of leopard print, some are festooned in arboreal paraphernalia, another a MacDougall Bats polo. There is no evidence of Night Court, but there are many pairs of glasses.

“One of us, one of us, one of us!” they chant gleefully as the 6’5” figure of Ryan Loutos disappears inside the ballpark.

A computer science graduate from Washington University in St. Louis, where all the best, brightest and most beautiful people go to school (Hi Claire! I love you! Does this very public shout-out make up for the fact I’m very delinquent in returning your phone call?), Loutos signed as an undrafted free agent with the Cardinals in 2021. His fastball velo bloomed from 92 to 97 MPH in their system, and he made his big league debut in 2024. Midway through 2025, the Cardinals designated him for assignment, then sent him to the Dodgers for cash. Shortly after that, Los Angeles DFA’d him and the Nationals picked him up. 2025 produced an objectively catastrophic performance from Loutos, but in November the Mariners scooped him up off waivers.

Every time Loutos has surfaced in the news, there’s been some heralding of his non-baseball skills. Namely, he’s a big ‘ol nerd. He used his computer science degree to develop a pitching analytics software while pitching for the WashU bears, and before the Cardinals signed him he had plans to accept a job offer as a software engineer in Chicago. The winter after joining the Cards, Loutos partnered with their front office to create a similar software to be used throughout their minor league system (called “Chirp,” which is extremely cute). He also became the de facto tech support in the locker rooms.

“I’ve definitely been that guy for all my minor league teammates,” Loutos told MLB.com after he was promoted back in 2024. “The players will come to me first because I’m their friend and they’re comfortable around me. Because I know the ins and outs of the app, I was always the guy players would go to. The number one question was always ‘Why is my velocity so low on here?’. But it was good to know the app and be able to help out.” 

He’s since worked in the offseason with Premier Pitching, helping them develop similar software for pitching analytics. With the Mariners’ reputation as a pitching analytics powerhouse, Loutos is a natural fit, particularly in continuing to build connection between the front office and the data they generate and the players who are producing the, ahem, raw material.

To be honest, I couldn’t find much of notable interest in his pitching profiles, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I queried John Trupin, who, as podcast listeners know, is incapable of delivering a succinct answer. He noted that Loutos’ four-seamer is similar to Justus Sheffield’s (oof) in that it has hardly any spin to it, and that his sweeper has scarcely any sweep, presenting so convincingly like a 12-6 curveball that some write-ups on him note a curve as part of his arsenal. 

A little more from John: “My initial sentiment on Loutos is that there’s a little Taylor Williams in him – his sweeper and slider are both astonishingly close to purely vertical/12-6 curveballs that do not actually sweep. For Williams that was a “gyro” slider that didn’t break but just dropped and spun like it should break. His four-seamer is really just a sinker, I’m struggling to ID who it reminds me of. They may try to get him to expand use of his split-change, he’s been working on it for a couple years.”

From a pure pitching standpoint, Loutos is clearly just another arm for the pile. But with his analytical knowledge and background, there could be some interesting ways for him to grow within the Mariners system. (And a shared high school alma mater with skipper Dan Wilson certainly doesn’t hurt either!)

The Washington Nationals just released their 2026 Minor League coaching staff. With Paul Toboni taking the reins, there are naturally a lot of new faces. However, there are also some returning staff members. The staffs are also bigger than they have been in the past, which is an example of Toboni’s focus on player development.

Every minor league team is going to have more staff members than they did last year. To build a player development machine like Paul Toboni wants, you need plenty of cogs. That is what he is trying to build here. 

There are going to be new staff positions this year. Last year, there was only one trainer and one conditioning coach at each level. This year there will be an assistant trainer and an assistant conditioning coach at each level. There will also be a defense coach at each level, something we did not have last year. Lastly, there are assistant hitting and pitching coaches at each level as well.

All of this is very exciting for an organization that will be built on player development. These new hires also show a real commitment to Paul Toboni’s vision. While they may not be spending in free agency, ownership is putting their money where their mouth is here.

Despite all the new faces, the Double-A and Triple-A managers will remain the same. Matt LeCroy has been a beloved minor league manager for a long time now. This will be his sixth season managing Triple-A Rochester and his 18th season in the Nationals organization. From all of the clips you see of him, LeCroy seems like a wonderful person. He was also in the mix to be the Nats interim manager last year.

Double-A manager Delino DeShields will also be back. This will be his fourth season managing the Harrisburg Senators. However, the Nats are bringing in new managers for both A ball clubs. Chris O’Neill will serve as the Fred Nats manager. He was previously the hitting coach at VCU. The High-A manager will be Ted Tom, who also served in the college ranks. He was most recently the hitting coach at UCF. 

There are going to be so many new voices in the organization, which I love to see. These staffers have a mix of youth and experience, though the Low-A staff is very young. The pitching coach for the Fred Nats is only 27 and the assistant pitching coach is even younger at 24. Both have experience working in pitching labs, such as Driveline. The physical therapists name is also James Wood, which I found funny.

As you get into the upper minors, the coaches are usually older, which makes sense. Most of the Triple-A staff is in their 40’s or 50’s. Following the progress of the minor league teams should be very exciting this year.

The Nats have a deep pool of prospects after their offseason trades. The system is especially deep at the lower levels. With this revamped development team, we should see prospects have breakout years. I am excited to see who will be helped the most by these changes. This kind of stuff is why the Paul Toboni hire is so exciting.