WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - COLOMBIA VS MEXICO

March 11, 2023

Jolbert Cabrera

Chase Field

Team Colombia

Pregame Press Conference

Q. In terms of Nabil today, what's an ideal number of innings you're looking to get out of him in the first game?

JOLBERT CABRERA: Nine? Speaking of restrictions, we'll get four innings out of him, the max. Knock on wood, that would come true. But we'll see.

Q. Talking with MLB teams because you have a few MLB pitchers on your roster, how explicit were they about how much you can and can't use their guys?

JOLBERT CABRERA: There's a few guys that we know that we want to work around what they ask us to do. But other than, I believe, Florez everybody in the bullpen might be two-plus, but that's about it.

Q. What do you think it will mean to the fans if Colombia makes a deep run?

JOLBERT CABRERA: It would be an amazing story for baseball, just like what is happening in Asia right now with Czechoslovakia. It's amazing what they're doing. And Panama is playing good. It's all great for the growth of the game globally. So we'll see. The guys have prepared and they're talented.

Q. With Colombia not making the World Cup in soccer --

JOLBERT CABRERA: Let's not talk about that, come on now. (Laughter).

Q. That partly answers the question. Will this have any extra meaning for the fans given that aspect?

JOLBERT CABRERA: To put this in perspective, so you can understand, Mexico, because of how they play baseball in Mexico, they play baseball all year around, all over the country even though they also have soccer.

In Colombia, we only play in the north coast of the country, which is the Caribbean Sea is hitting it. So it's the same; baseball all over the place. We don't play that much baseball in the rest of the country. So as a whole in the country, it won't have that big impact. But in the north coast it would be huge.