FLUSHING, NY — EL CAPITÁN!
Francisco Lindor took it upon himself to make a special announcement on his Instagram profile Wednesday night regarding his participation in the 2026 World Baseball Classic with Team Puerto Rico.
As he let it be known to the world—not only is the 31-year-old premier shortstop of the New York Mets, a multiple-time LatinoMVP award winner, fully intending to represent his beloved Puerto Rico next March on the grand stage, but also, in Team PR’s potential quest to WBC championship glory—the Caguas native will be the captain, steering the Boricuas’ ship.
Image Credit: @lindor12bc/Instagram
“Honored to be the captain,” commented Lindor under his Instagram post, adding in Spanish “Vamos mi borinquén!”.
Marking the second time of his career being Team Puerto Rico’s captain (2023 WBC), this would be Lindor’s third appearance in the World Baseball Classic—2017, 2023 and 2026.
Throughout his first two WBC experiences, Puerto Rico finished as the runner-up in 2017, losing to Team USA in the championship game while for 2023, PR fell in the WBC quarterfinal round to Team Mexico.
Image Credit: World Baseball Classic/MLB
Mets’ manager Carlos Mendoza, a bench coach for Team Venezuela in the 2023 WBC, was asked of Lindor’s Puerto Rico WBC captaincy Thursday afternoon at Citi Field before New York’s 4-1 win on the Cardinals.
“That’s an honor,” Mendoza said. “Proud of him, and obviously very happy, well-deserved that he gets to represent his country and now, the captain of the team. Being in this tournament, representing Venezuela in the last one, this is something that you will never forget. This is an experience where you are playing for your country, it’s a different feeling.”
The 45-year-old skipper of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, added, “You guys see it on television, it’s electric. It means a lot when you are playing for your country.”
Image Credit: World Baseball Classic/MLB
Potentially joining Lindor on Puerto Rico’s 2026 WBC squad is a contingency of 16 Puerto Rican-born MLB players listed on 2025 Opening Day team rosters including Carlos Correa, José Berríos, Javier Báez, Willi Castro, Kiké Hernández, Jose Miranda, Heliot Ramos, among others, as well as several players of Puerto Rican family heritage born in the U.S. or another respective country/territory such as Seth Lugo and MJ Melendez.
“That’s great,” said Lindor on there being 16 Puerto Rican-born players in MLB in 2025. “That means our next World Baseball Classic could be very interesting. Hopefully there are more this year and next year.”
“I know a lot of people say, ‘Puerto Rican baseball, it’s not as good as it once was,’ but I believe that the game continues to evolve and continues to grow. Hopefully we have more than 20.”
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