Andrés Giménez has WBC bragging rights in Blue Jays clubhouse as Venezuela beats USA

Andrés Giménez and Team Venezuela are on top of the baseball world! The South American nation toppled Team USA in the finals of the World Baseball Classic, 3-2, in a dramatic finish that truly engaged baseball observers across the globe. It's a great end to the tournament for Giménez, the shortstop of the Toronto Blue Jays, who now gets to own the bragging rights in the clubhouse over some of his teammates who were vying for the same title.

Giménez, Team Venezuela, beat USA in WBC finals

Giménez played a small role in the final game, being substituted in the bottom of the seventh as a defensive replacement at second base for Gleyber Torres and flying out in his one at-bat in the top of the ninth with the go-ahead run having just crossed the plate. However, he was a valuable veteran addition to a team that had come up short several times over the five previous tournaments.

Venezeula had always sent strong teams to the WBC, carrying talent such as future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera, perennial All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve, and another future Hall of Famer in catcher Salvador Perez. Yet they were never able to pull it all together until this years edition of the tournament.

Giménez will now join his Blue Jays teammates in Dunedin to finish out the Spring Training schedule and he'll be coming back with a huge smile on his face, as he has something none of them have, and that's WBC gold. Several other Blue Jays were fighting for this title too. That includes Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Kazuma Okamoto, and Alejandro Kirk, all of whom bowed out of the tournament earlier than they wanted to.

Meantime, Tyler Rogers, Jeff Hoffman and Ernie Clement were all on the Team USA squad that had to watch Team Venezuela celebrate right in front of them as the final out was made.

The hope is that Giménez can turn this into fuel for the regular season as the he and the Blue Jays turn their sights toward getting back to the World Series and finishing the job this time. Giménez is being asked to be the every day shortstop with the Blue Jays this season, taking over for Bo Bichette who had helmed that spot since his debut in 2019. Giménez hasn't played shortstop full-time in the majors ever. He had 23 games there in 2020, 42 games in 2021 and 18 games during his All-Star season in 2022.

But he got into 15 games at short during the 2025 regular season with Toronto and played all 18 of the Blue Jays' playoff games at short and made just one error over the course of the 170 innings. Many insiders believe that Giménez can hold his own defensively at that spot, and should even be a significant upgrade over Bichette. However, the concern is with his bat.

Giménez hit .201/.285/.313 in 101 games for the Blue Jays in his first season with Toronto last year, adding seven home runs. A return to his days in Cleveland in which he averaged 144 hits, 13 home runs and a .724 OPS per season would go a long way toward Giménez being a valuable contributor on both sides of the ball. Maybe, with his WBC championship in his back pocket, he'll reverse course and give the Blue Jays some more consistency in 2026.