The Panamanian right-handed pitcher Humberto Mejía was selected by manager Luis Ortíz to open the first game of the World Classic, when this Wednesday at 6:00 am Panamanian time they will face Taiwan in a clash expected by the fans.
“The truth is that I am very happy and very proud of the decision of manager Luis Ortíz to choose me to open the first game of the World Classic, we are ready for Game 1 and I am very happy with that decision,” Mejía said in an interview this morning in Taiwan. where he had part of a preparation game with 1.0 inning and then a “bullpen” to finish fine-tuning his pitches.
Ortíz leads the rotation of the Panamanian pitchers in the World Classic, for the second game the Major League Baseball right-hander Jaime Barría of the Los Angeles Angels has been designated and the left-hander Andy Otero could be the starter against Cuba in game 3. For the game with Italy no assignment has been given.
“Panama really looks pretty good, we have a tremendous group, there is a lot of unity, we are all on the same page, we have the illusion of going to Japan and reaching Miami, we are going to stand up and fight for Panama,” he said. Mejia.
Mejia, a 6-foot-4, 244-pound, 26-year-old right-hander was the recipient of the national flag before the team left for Taiwan.
The right-hander made his major league debut with the Miami Marlins in 2020, went 0-2 in his first year in the majors with a 5.40 ERA and in 2021 played in the majors with Arizona, where he had a record of 0 -3.
Mejía has remained in professional ball, had an outstanding performance in Mexico and also took part in the Dominican Winter League in the last two years, until for spring training 2023 he joined the New York Mets team, prior to this year’s major league season.
Mejía opened Panama’s first game in the pre-World Classic and put up important numbers against Argentina in a game that was played at the Rod Carew stadium in the Panamanian capital.
Mejía worked 4.0 innings against Argentina with 2 hits allowed, no scores and 5 fans to score the win. Mejía used 44 pitches of which 33 were strikes.
