WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - CANADA VS COLOMBIA

March 14, 2023

Jolbert Cabrera

Chase Field

Team Colombia

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Gio Urshela and Harold Ramirez, two of the biggest bats in your lineup, a lot of Major League experience. Haven't seen a lot from them in the first two games. How do you jump-start those guys?

JOLBERT CABRERA: That's a good question. They're professionals. I feel like as soon as they give us good at-bats -- it's a process. I understand we are in the middle of Spring Training. It takes a while for guys to get going. Some guys like to get it going later in spring. For some guys sometimes it's a little early just to jump-start their own.

But Gio got a base hit the first game. He had a long drive to right field. He's staying with his approach. So I have nothing against that. He's a professional.

Harold has been searching. He's been working hard in the cage, trying to get his contact point a little bit farther over the plate. It feels like he's trying to reach out for the ball too up front. He's working on it. Hopefully he can get good at-bats and good contacts today.

Q. Conversely, are there guys that you've been impressed with over the first two games that you've thought have put really good at-bats together?

JOLBERT CABRERA: Definitely, one of the reasons why you saw Viloria in the game yesterday is because his approach, which he changed the last at-bat, has been very consistent. He takes a lot of pitches. He doesn't chase.

He chased that last at-bat when he shouldn't. That at-bat right there need to stay with his plan, try to get a base hit. Was trying to go for a homer. And the guy was throwing a pretty good split finger, and he couldn't connect.

But I feel like, as a team, we have a good approach in both games. We just haven't stringed those hits and take advantage of the walks that we have been issued. To the contrary to the other team yesterday, Great Britain, took advantage of all the walks we gave them.

Q. Howard said it was different for him having played with you as a teammate and then playing with you as a manager. Where did you guys play together?

JOLBERT CABRERA: I played with him until I was 40. I won my last two batting titles at 39 and 40 in Colombia. He and Gio played with me -- in Colombia for the Tigres. We won the championship. That was the last time the team won. Then I retired.

But we did play together. I played with Rodriguez before. I played with his dad. Not that I'm old, but his dad is older than me. I have a few guys on that team that I played with.

Q. You're starting Almeida today?

JOLBERT CABRERA: Yeah, Almeida is going in today. Historically, Canada always has a lot of lefties in the lineup. Going to take the chance. We've got to take the chance with our best lefty starter. Jose Quintana that we have right now with us here And then go by what we see in the game and try to use every lefty in that bullpen today.

Q. Speaking of Quintana, is not having him here, did that kind of change your plan a little bit? I know you had a little bit of time to change ahead of time, but how big is that loss of not having Quintana, especially today?

JOLBERT CABRERA: The thing about it, you can change -- you have to stay in the present. But in the perfect scenario, you would have thrown him against Mexico, but you wouldn't know the outcome of the game just because how fantastic Crismatt threw.

If I would have known I would have said, okay, Quintana is going after Canada. He's going for Canada; he's a lefty. But, no, you would go with your horse. You would go with him in the first game, but Crismatt would be ready for this Canadian team because there's a lot of lefties on that team.

It's just second-guessing. I'm thinking about stuff that you can control. He's here right now. I really wanted him here as a person, what kind of leader he is in the clubhouse. I texted the guys about 5:30 this morning. And he wrote back a message for the team today at the same time. It was great.

Q. What did Quintana say to the guys?

JOLBERT CABRERA: Just keep believing in themselves. He's very proud of everybody. All the guys are doing really good. He's watching every game. He wants them to believe in themselves and go get 'em. Go get 'em. We still own our destiny. We still own it.

Q. Were you asked about how, with Canada, the two games they played are so different. Did that make scouting them difficult for you?

JOLBERT CABRERA: Well, scouting's a little out of the question when I feel like they have a plan. They know what they were doing. They were saving all the pitching for today's game. I feel like they think they have a better chance beating us than the chances they had yesterday.

They started a 19-year-old that was, for me, was questionable. I feel sorry for the kid. Hopefully he can bounce from that in the future on his career, as his career goes on.

But that's a tough one to put a young kid with not that much experience against a team like that. But that's a decision they made. And gotta live with it.

But we're going to be prepared for them. Again, I feel like they have that strategy. They were saving the pitching for today's game.