“Juan Soto will play all the way”

The manager of the Dominicans’ World Baseball Classic team has revealed the change of heart the San Diego Padres had to allow their star player to play every day of the tournament.

Juan Soto will be one of the key players for the Dominican Republic during all of the national team’s matches in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, as long as he is healthy. These are the words Kweskoyan squad captain Rodney Linares used to open the pre-rehearsal press conference on Tuesday, March 14th.

Juan Soto’s readiness for the match against Israel was called into question, due to the fact that the Dominican team had certain restrictions on the player’s use as a result of problems he had with one of his legs. This situation forced Soto to join his national team late.

Since his arrival, National Team Manager Rodney, Nelson Cruz and Juan Soto himself have made it clear that the San Diego Padres, in an effort to sponsor the player, wanted to limit his time on the court.

After some statements by Padres manager Bob Melvin, in which he noted that Soto “has no limitations and can play every day,” as well as the fact that after running a lot during the game between the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, Soto felt that his legs were in perfect condition. And the management of the Caribbean team asked AJ Preller, the manager of San Diego, to lift the restrictions, who agreed.

“We talked to them (the parents). You know, Ben, one of their coaches is here, watching him. I’ve seen Juan (Soto) go around the playing area (the field) basically about ten times, he felt good, there were no problems and when He woke up (Tuesday) feeling good.”

“We continued with the plan not to play today. He was willing to play (…) The plan is for him to play while he’s healthy, if there are no setbacks, Juan will play the rest of the way. You’ve all heard the manager’s (Bob Melvin) remarks, and we’ve contacted the manager ( AJ Briller), who told us everything would depend on how Juan feels, and he told us he was fine and I said, “Let’s go up,” Linares added.

Soto ended up starting in the Dominican Republic’s knockout win against Israel on Tuesday night and is expected to also start in the match against Puerto Rico, where the fate of both teams will be decided.