With the World Baseball Classic coming soon, excitement is building around the game and throughout the MLB world.
The best players from all around the globe will compete with their respective countries in hopes of bringing home a WBC title.
Team USA won in 2017, when the Classic was last played.
The Dominican National team will be managed by Rodney Linares.
Linares has managed at the minor league level with the Houston Astros.
The 45-year-old has a deep background in baseball, and today, he spoke with MLB insider Jon Morosi, expressing his excitement to manage in the WBC and reflecting on his journey.
Rodney Linares was a minor league manager in 2017, when he attended the epic USA-DR @WBCBaseball matchup in Miami as a fan. Now he is managing the Dominican national team — guided by the influence of his father, Julio, the longtime @Astros executive. @MLBNetwork @RaysBaseball pic.twitter.com/oeR0ejCzY0
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) January 18, 2023
Linares talked about his close relationship with his father, who was a longtime executive for the Astros.
Julio Linares was referred to as “The Captain” in the Dominican Republic.
But the Dominican Team’s manager spoke very fondly of his father and the lessons he taught him about the game of baseball.
Linares mentioned a key moment in his life when he realized he was an integral part of the game, when his father told him that in the past, people would refer to Rodney as “The Captain’s kid,” but that today, Julio is referred to as “Rodney’s dad,” with his journey coming full circle.
Linares never made it very far in professional baseball, but stayed in the game after his father gave him a very important piece of advice.
Julio was honest with Rodney and told him he may never play professionally, but that if he kept his head on his shoulders and learned the game, he could be involved in baseball for a long time.
Now, Linares has a chance to manage in the WBC.
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