FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Wilyer Abreu, among the major leagues’ preeminent Venezuelans, represents his home country in the World Baseball Classic, it will come with an extra honor: spending time with Miguel Cabrera.
Cabrera, the two-time AL MVP and 12-time All-Star, is a Venezuelan baseball icon — and the club’s hitting coach in the tournament that begins this week.
“He’s a legend,” Abreu said Sunday. “It’s an experience that I’m going to have for the rest of my life.”
Abreu has met Cabrera briefly, when he competed in (and won) a home run derby in Venezuela last offseason. They talked at the time about the WBC, which made Abreu — who was 4 when a 20-year-old Cabrera homered off Roger Clemens in the 2003 World Series — all the more excited. He acknowledged being a tad starstruck.
“He’s the best player that Venezuela has ever had,” Abreu said. “I never thought that I would be around him. So this is a special moment for me, for my life, to be there with him . . . I know I can learn a lot from him. I know he’s going to give me some good tips that I can use for the rest of my career. So I’m going to try to learn as much as I can from him.”
Venezuela’s first game is Friday against Ceddanne Rafaela and the Netherlands in Miami. Team USA also will open Friday, playing Brazil in Houston.
Suárez feeds on challenge
There was a subplot to Ranger Suárez’s three-inning, one-run outing in an 8-7 loss to the visiting Orioles on Sunday: He was limited to 45 pitches. However, Suárez was up to 34 through two innings.
So Sox manager Alex Cora offered a challenge, according to Suárez: If he could complete the third in 11 or fewer pitches, Cora would buy him dinner.
Suárez needed exactly 11 to get the next three outs, then pointed and laughed at the dugout on his way back from the mound.
He is looking forward to his meal.
“An expensive one, so he can pay for it,” Suárez said through an interpreter.
Cora rebutted: “No, no, it was 10 [pitches] or less. He forgot his Spanish.”
Hard call for Guerrero
Sunday yielded complicated feelings for reliever Tayron Guerrero, who had been scheduled to leave Sox camp to join Colombia ahead of the WBC. In recent days, however, the righthander opted out of the tournament.
He said he felt compelled to focus on the Red Sox in his quest to return to the majors for the first time since 2019.
“It’s a really hard day. Not a hard day, but an emotional day. I had to make that decision,” said Guerrero, who is in camp on a minor league contract. “But I’m going to make this decision really [worthwhile] by the way that I’m going to do my things here, just to be able to have the opportunity to go back to the big leagues. So that’s a dream that I have.”
Guerrero, 35, played in 113 major league games with the Padres and Marlins from 2016-19. In recent years, he has pitched in Mexico, Japan, and the Dominican Republic. His fastball is touching 100 miles per hour in exhibition outings with the Sox, and on Sunday he tossed two scoreless innings.
“[The Red Sox] haven’t told me anything about [chances of making the team], but I will show that I’m ready to be part of this organization in the big leagues,” he said. “[Colombia] obviously wants me to be there, and I want to be there, too. But I have an opportunity that I want to take advantage of.”
Prospecting
Cora said Franklin Arias, the Red Sox’ top position player prospect, will start at shortstop Monday against the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla. He’ll be called up from minor league camp.
“We’ll probably see a lot of him this week,” said Cora, whose club is playing three road games that require multi-hour drives and thus are wildly unattractive to established big leaguers. “It’ll be good for me to see him play, and for him to be around big leaguers and playing against big leaguers.”
Aiming to be first in line
Amid the Sox’ unofficial tryouts for a backup first baseman, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andruw Monasterio played there against the Orioles. Kiner-Falefa has never manned first. Monasterio has started one game there in the majors. “Vamos!” Monasterio said . . . Puerto Rico’s WBC equipment began to arrive at Fenway South. The team will work out Monday before playing the Red Sox on Tuesday night (and then the Twins on Wednesday) in their tournament tuneups. Among those coming to town: Cora’s brother, Joey Cora, Puerto Rico’s third base coach. “The only Cora in that tournament is Joey, and I’m buying the tickets,” Alex half-joked. “I don’t know how that happened. All of a sudden, I have to buy 15 tickets for everybody.” . . . Aroldis Chapman celebrated his 38th birthday Saturday, but Sunday sort of counted, too. He said he was born on Leap Day — Feb. 29, 1988 — and grew up marking the occasion on the last day of February, however many days the month had that year.
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.