With his chances of making the Texas Rangers' Opening Day roster being pretty slim at this point, barring injury, the Rangers have given their 20-year-old top prospect their blessing to join the Netherlands team in the World Baseball Classic for the semifinal round, and possibly the finals if the Dutch advance.
Profar declined an invite to play for the Netherlands (he's a native of the Dutch colony Curacao in the Caribbean) at the beginning of the world baseball tournament, but an injury opened up a roster spot on the Dutch team and made it possible for Profar to join the club for the pressure-packed semifinal and final rounds.
It seems likely at this point that Profar will open the MLB season in the minors, presumably at Double-A Frisco so he can be just a 40-minute drive from Rangers Ballpark in the event of a last-minute injury to Elvis Andrus or Ian Kinsler. Or he could start at Triple-A Round Rock, a level at which he's never played. It would be silly for him to start the season with the big club — that much is clear, as he'd probably do nothing but sit on the bench four times a week.
Now he'll get a once-in-a-lifetime experience of not only playing for his country, but doing so against some established big-league competition.
He'll leave Arizona today and will be back no later than midweek next week as the championship game is set to be played Tuesday in San Francisco.
Profar has had some struggles this spring, hitting .222 with a .349 on-base percentage with a double, triple, stolen base and five RBIs. He has shown good plate discipline, drawing seven walks but he's also been fanned 10 times.
