Puerto Rico's Edgardo Villegas named WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup MVP

Puerto Rico centre fielder Edgardo Villegas earned MVP honours at the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024. The 20-year-old native of Bayamon went 10-for-20 and walked 10 times. He was also the tournament's leading hitter, with the most stolen bases (six) and the most runs scored (nine).

"I thank everybody who made this possible, my family in particular," commented Villegas prior to the closing ceremony. "I came here intending to win a gold medal. It didn't happen, and I can't say I'm happy. Still, I tried to do the best I could at the plate, and thank God it worked out, and I was able to help my team."

Villegas appeared in 55 games for the University of Miami during the 2024 NCAA season.

Japan's Takanori Takahashi earned the Best Defensive Player award.

The other individual awards went to:

• Zhao Wei (China) best earned run average (0.82)
• Hyunseok Choi (Korea) best record (3-0)
• Solomon Maguire (Australia) most home runs (2; tied with two other players) and runs batted in (9).

The WBSC also announced the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024 All-World Team, which included two players from Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Korea, one from Japan, Venezuela, the Netherlands, China, and Colombia.