The Colombian baseball team added 550 points in the WBSC (World Baseball Softball Confederation) ranking for its participation in the last two tournaments, which places it in 13th place worldwide and in second place in South America, behind Venezuela. .
The leader of the ranking is Japan (5,797 points), followed by Mexico (4,764), the USA (4,492), South Korea (4,353), Chinese Taipei (4,170), Venezuela (3,975), the Netherlands (3,288), Cuba (3,121), Dominican Republic (2,667), Panama (2,534), Australia (2,376), Puerto Rico (2,355) and Colombia (2,105).
The Pan American Games in October, where the Tricolor won gold, contributed 430 points to the ranking, making it the tournament of the year that allowed the most points to be added. During the competition, the coffee growers defeated better-placed rivals, such as Mexico (2), Venezuela (6) and Panama (10). In the final they faced Brazil, a team they had lost to in the group stage, however, they managed to win the tournament with a resounding 9-1.
In the U23 World Cup, held in Nicaragua, the Colombians won all the games, taking first place and 120 points in the championship. They also faced Venezuela and Panama, and beat another top-10, Cuba (8). The final was against the host, in a close match that ended 1-0, with the figure of Víctor Vargas, who was chosen as the most valuable player of that duel.
Freddy Jinete, a specialist in this sport and linked to the Colombian Baseball Federation, spoke about the team’s participation in 2023: “As in all other tournaments, it had adequate preparation, but, in addition, permission was obtained from organized baseball for the loan of certain players.”
In this order of ideas, the National Team was able to count on players belonging to the minor divisions of the US Major Leagues, added to the members of the Colombian Professional Baseball League, thanks to the management of the Federation.
In the case of the U23 World Cup, one of the strong points was the experience of the players. Many, despite their shortness, already had experience in the Colombian League, so they were at a good level of competition.
Despite the good year, Colombia’s position could have been better if its performance in the 2023 World Baseball Classic had met expectations. Jinete explains that there are competitions with more points than others, and the Classic, the most important at the national team level, is one of the ones that adds the most. There the Colombian team was barely able to win a game, and was eliminated in the group stage as last in the table.
The team could not qualify for the WBSC Premier 12, a competition that is held every 4 years and the 12 best in the world ranking participate. Even so, the specialist points out that the country’s performance is too good to not have baseball as a national sport: “A sport that is not national does not have the support or budget of other disciplines, even if they have given less results than baseball.” .
Within what is expected for 2024, Colombia will be in the international qualifying tournaments, and will be present in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup, which will be held in China.
Colombia accumulates 2,105 points in the WBSC historical table. This year it totaled 792.
2023-12-21 00:01:43
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