Aaron Judge and Juan Soto appear ready for the World Baseball Classic.
The superstar sluggers delivered powerful performances in their final tuneups before the WBC, standing out even in the ultra-loaded Team USA and Team Dominican Republic lineups.
Judge went 3-for-5 (.600) with a home run, three RBI and a walk during Team USA’s blowout wins over the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies in exhibition games this week.
The Yankees right fielder’s towering home run Wednesday against left-hander Kyle Freeland jumped off his bat at 115.9 mph and traveled 453 feet.
Soto’s stats were even gaudier.
The Mets star went 4-for-7 (.571) with two home runs, a triple and six RBI during the Dominican Republic’s two exhibition games, both against the Detroit Tigers, at Quisqueya Juan Marichal Stadium in Santo Domingo.
Both national teams are scheduled to play their first official WBC game on Friday night, with the U.S. opening pool play against Brazil at Houston’s Daikin Park; and the Dominican Republic facing Nicaragua at Miami’s LoanDepot Park.
This is the first WBC for Judge, who is Team USA’s captain.
He has been hitting third in a star-spangled U.S. lineup that features Bryce Harper in front of him and Kyle Schwarber behind him.
“I never had the opportunity to represent the USA,” Judge said before leaving Yankees spring training, “and getting a chance to wear that across my chest is going to be pretty powerful.”
Judge, 33, is one of four Yankees representing the U.S., along with David Bednar, Paul Goldschmidt and Ryan Yarbrough.
Goldschmidt also performed well in the exhibition wins, going 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and a walk after replacing Harper at first base in both games.
Others on the impressive Team USA roster include aces Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal; Mets starters Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes; infielders Bobby Witt Jr., Alex Bregman and Gunnar Henderson; and catcher Cal Raleigh.
Meanwhile, Soto headlines a similarly stacked D.R. lineup that also includes Junior Caminero, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Ketel Marte and Julio Rodriguez.
Caminero, 22, went 6-for-6 with a home run and a triple in the exhibition games against Detroit.
“Soto and Caminero are two great hitters. They have proved it all along,” Dominican Republic manager Albert Pujols said. “Soto, his patience and work ethic. Caminero is still very young but has a lot of talent.”
Austin Wells is the Dominican Republic’s starting catcher, while fellow Yankees Amed Rosario and Camilo Doval are also on the roster.
This is the second WBC for the 27-year-old Soto, who hit .400 with a pair of home runs and a 1.500 OPS for the Dominican Republic in 2023.
Team USA and Team Dominican Republic are two of the favorites in this year’s WBC, as is Team Japan, which won the 2023 tournament.
Shohei Ohtani, who was the 2023 WBC MVP, is back for Team Japan, although only as a hitter this time. He is joined by fellow Los Angeles Dodgers star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is set to start Friday’s opener against Chinese Taipei.
But Japan is without another Dodgers pitcher, Roki Sasaki, who was part of the 2023 team but opted against returning after missing time with a shoulder injury as an MLB rookie last season.
There are 20 national teams competing in the WBC, and they are split into four pool groups. Team USA is part of Pool B, along with Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain and Italy.
Eight teams will advance after the round-robin pool play to set up a single-elimination bracket for the remainder of the tournament.
The final is set for March 17 in Miami.
Giants right-hander Logan Webb is set to start Friday night’s opener for the U.S. He is scheduled to be followed in the rotation by Skubal — in his lone WBC start — and then Skenes and McLean.
