Erubiel Durazo is fighting for a major-league spot by proxy.
Instead of staying at the Texas Rangers' spring training facility in Surprise, Durazo, 32, is playing for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.
The designated hitter, who was born in Hermosillo but attended Amphitheater High School and Pima College, will bat cleanup today when Team Mexico plays the United States at 2 p.m. at Chase Field in Phoenix.
It will be the first World Baseball Classic game for each team. Team Mexico played in front of a standing room-only Tucson Electric Park crowd Saturday night, then scrimmaged Pima College on Sunday.
"Ninety-five percent of the people at (Saturday) night's game were Mexican people," Durazo said. "You can tell they're excited about it.
"And all of us want to play. All of the guys want to be here."
Durazo is playing for pride, but he is not stupid. He knows that a good performance on an international stage will make him a hot commodity.
Durazo played only 41 games for Oakland last year before having ligament replacement surgery on his left elbow. He joined the Rangers on Feb. 21 because of his familiarity with manager Buck Showalter, his former manager with the Diamondbacks.
Durazo will receive $500,000 if he makes the opening-day roster and could make more than $1 million in performance bonuses.
Durazo is fighting veteran Phil Nevin — who is owed a team-high $10 million and is essentially untradeable if the Rangers do not pick up most of his salary — for the designated hitter job.
The WBC, then, is great advertising for Durazo.
"A lot of people are going to be following these games," Durazo said. "If I don't stay (in Texas), it's going to be somewhere else."
It's about more than business, though. Durazo calls winning the 2005 Caribbean World Series with Mexico "a great moment" and one of the highlights of his career.
In less than a week, Team Mexico seems to be as close as any major-league squad. Players spent hours over the weekend in the lobby of the Marriott University Park, talking and catching up as if at a class reunion.
"It's our dream team," said second baseman Jorge Cantu, who plays for Tampa Bay. "You cannot get any better than that.
"I expect a packed house. And I expect so much thrills, so much nervousness, so much pressure."
Asked about the fan support he expects, manager Paquin Estrada needed no translation.
"Caliente," he said.
Should Mexico be one of the two teams to advance from the four-team pool, it would move on to Anaheim. Win that, and the team goes to the finals in San Diego.
"We've got a lot of fans," pitcher Esteban Loaiza said. "They're everywhere, especially here in Arizona and in California, where all these tournaments are going to be located.
"We just want to give them a taste of ourselves."
Today
● Who: Mexico vs. United States
● Where: Chase Field, Phoenix
● When: 2 p.m.
● TV: ESPN2
