Padres Players Who Could be in Next World Baseball Classic

With the 2021 World Baseball Classic being postponed, we look at which San Diego Padres could be in the next event.

Amidst the news about a return to play proposal on Monday, there was also the cancellation of the 2021 World Baseball Classic.

The event that is played every four years and was last won by the US was scheduled to take place again during March of 2021. But with everything going on around the world, they deemed the WBC not to be necessary at this time even though it’s nearly a year away.

Still, preliminary games would have been taking place this year in order for teams to qualify for the event. With that in mind, it makes a lot of sense to go ahead and cancel the Classic.

Most believe the event will be postponed until 2023, but the MLBPA would have to agree to participate in the event during the next collective bargaining agreement.

Assuming that does happen, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t, let’s look at a couple of Padres players who could be featured in the next event.

The most obvious one is Fernando Tatis Jr. who would be suiting up to play for the Dominican Republic team. The Dominican team is always very strong and they won the event back in 2013.

Thinking optimistically, he could be joined on that team by fellow Padre Francisco Mejía, but that seems like a longshot at this point.

Looking at the US team, who will still be the defending champs, I think we could realistically see MacKenzie Gore and Chris Paddack in the starting rotation on that team. And possibly Taylor Trammell and/or CJ Abrams (both from Georgia).

Another Georgia native, Luis Campusano has a shot to be on that US team as well one day.

Luis Patino should be a lock to make the Colombian team if things go as expected for him over the next couple of years.

The future certainly seems bright in San Diego. Padres players could be all over the next WBC whenever it does take place. Let us know in the comments below if I left anyone out.