Venezuela came a Trea Turner grand slam away from reaching the semifinals in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. They can thank their catcher, Royals veteran Salvador Perez for that. In '23, Perez slashed .429/.467/.929 with a home run, four doubles, and six RBIs -- five of which came in a 9-6 victory against Puerto Rico -- en route to being named to the All-WBC team at the end of the tournament.

Now, Perez will be the face of the team, as he was named the captain on Monday.

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This will be the fourth Classic for Perez, who has played in every tournament since 2013 when he was just 23 years old and had yet to be elected to the first of nine Major League All-Stars Games. He's appeared in eight career WBC games and in that time has slashed .346/.393/.808 with two h

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