Preview: Venezuela, Panama open Day 2 in Group A of the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS

Day two in the opening round of Group A at the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS starts on Sunday at 1pm local time with the duel between No. 4 in the KONAMI/WBSC Men’s Baseball World Rankings, Venezuela, and the No. 10 Panama at Estadio Panamericano Charros de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Venezuela celebrated a convincing 8-4 victory over host Mexico on Saturday and is now looking to improve to 2-0. Their defense kept the zeroes on the board until the last inning, when Mexico was able to break the shutout bid. Panama meanwhile had a 7-2 lead over the Netherlands, but eventually fell in a heartbreak 8-9 loss after extra-innings to lose their WBSC Premier12 debut.

Manager Omar
Flores is sending Jesus Vargas to the mound to start the game for Venezuela.
The 25-year-old right-hander spent six seasons in the minor leagues between2015 and 2022, playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. He showeda strong control by striking out 312 batters through 372 2/3 innings, whilewalking only 73. In 94 games he assembled an ERA of 4.18. In 2024 Vargas playedin Mexico for Tijuana and Puebla followed by Caracas in the Venezuelan WinterLeague. In 25 games (21 starts) he went 6-6 with an ERA of 4.58 and 72strikeouts and 26 walks in 108 innings pitched. In 2021 he made two appearancesfor Venezuela in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.

Panama iscountering with Dario Agrazal as starting pitcher. The 29-year-old righty is aformer MLB player. After signing in 2012 with the Pittsburgh Pirates he wentthrough their farm system and debuted in the big leagues in 2019. He went 4-5with an ERA of 4.91 along 41 strikeouts and 18 walks in 73.1 innings pitched.
He got traded to the Detroit Tigers in the following offseason. An injury cuthis season short, and he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2021season without returning to Major League Baseball. In 2024 he had a brief11-game stint with Yucatan in the Mexican League.

While
Panama is trailing Venezuela in the KONAMI/WBSC Men’s Baseball World Ranking,they have a strong head-to-head record in WBSC baseball competitions since 2011with seven wins in nine games. Both programs last met during the WBSC U-18Baseball World Cup 2023 with Panama winning 13-4. Venezuela’s last win overPanama came in 2022 with a 7-0 shutout in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup.