WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D - NETHERLANDS VS VENEZUELA

March 6, 2026

Omar López

LoanDepot Park

Team Venezuela

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Any update about Chourio?

OMAR LÓPEZ: Those of you that were covering the second game in Palm Beach, you know that he got a ball in the upper part of the right hand. He was wearing the protection, but it was a straight ball at 100 miles an hour. He's going to be okay. The examination was done and everything is okay, but he had some swelling and he needs to rest.

He's better today. Let's wait and see how he will do tomorrow.

A. He can hit as a pinch-hitter today.

OMAR LÓPEZ: No, actually his availability we'll define after the preparation today, we can use him as a runner or on defense.

Q. What does Venezuela need to go further in the Classic, and why are you different this time?

OMAR LÓPEZ: If we knew the answer, I would have applied that method, and we would be champions, champions, and champions. But the short answer is that when I came here in 2023, they told me that they were not united, that players were not engaged, that the selection was focused on other things.

And that's what we did this time. It doesn't mean, however, that we are going to be the champions, but you can hope that when you are united, when you have a good performance, the path could be easier to the championship. We just have to continue playing baseball. We're going to be all right. As long as we are in the second, third, or the final round, we could be champions. Maybe this is our tournament.

We are convinced that this is the vision and the mission of this team.

Q. Netherlands offense has important names, experienced players, people that play in the majors. What kind of adjustments are you making for this international game, considering the hitters, powerful hitters of the Netherlands?

OMAR LÓPEZ: We have the players for that. Let's wait for the game. We are going to navigate that game, inning after inning. The adjustments will be done in the middle of the game. However, we have a game plan how to attack them, how to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Remember that this is an executional performance game. If we execute our game plan, we won't need to make any adjustments. It is important to respect the other players. We have to be strong and to use our strengths. We're going to look for their weaknesses so we can achieve our results.

Q. This question may have been asked, about Jackson Chourio --

OMAR LÓPEZ: He's doing all right. We're going to give him another day. The finger is kind of swollen, and it is bothering him. But he will be with us soon.