Royals’ Alcides Escobar reportedly says he will boycott World Baseball Classic

The Venezuelan team at next year’s World Baseball Classic may be missing quite a few star players.

Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez on Thursday shared a photo on Instragram of Venezuelan players and said that they may not take part in the World Baseball Classic if Omar Vizquel is not the manager.

In the post, Hernandez mentioned the Royals’ Salvador Perez and Alcides Escobar, Tigers stars Victor Marinez and Miguel Cabrera; the Rockies’ Carlos Gomez and Gerardo Parra; Braves outfielder Ender Inciarte and Eduardo Rodriguez of the Boston Red Sox.

Escobar is in the photo, but Perez is not. This is a rough translation of Hernandez’s message:

Together in the name of baseball, Venezuela, and our manager Omar Vizquel. The team united, without Vizquel we do not participate in the World Classic.

Escobar reposted that post to his Instagram account.

In a story on mlive.com, Venezuela’s general manager Carlos Guillen recently fired Vizquel, which prompted players to say they would be boycotting. In that story, Martinez said he wouldn’t play in the WBC unless Vizquel is the manager.

This tweet from Antonio Puesán claimed Escobar told the radio station Los Cronistas that he won’t play either.

Perez hasn’t shared anything on social media that would indicate his plans.