The Chicago Cubs pretty much shocked the entire baseball world when news broke that they had signed free agent third baseman Alex Bregman to a 5-year, $175 million contract.
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Up until the announcement, it was thought that the Cubs were at the back of a small pack of interested teams when it came to the three-time All-Star, with the Boston Red Sox favored to retain his services.
But the Chicago front office got the job done and the Cubs got the big-time asset they had tried, unsuccessfully, to grab after the 2024 season.
With Bregman comes Gold Glove-level defense at the hot corner, a lifetime .272 bat with an average of 28 home runs over 162 games, and an absolute ton of intangibles. The 10-year veteran, who’s played in the postseason in his last nine full major league seasons, is known for his supreme leadership abilities and his status as a clubhouse mentor.
Apparently, though, he has one other intangible that has flown under everyone’s radar– Spanish.
Alex Bregman with the big-time Spanish
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In Monday’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) pre-game presser in Houston, before the Team USA game against Team Mexico, Bregman took a standard “how do you feel playing in front of the Latino Houston fans” question from the Spanish-language press. Without flinching or waiting for an interpreter to do his thing, he dove right in with his response, in Spanish.
“Siento bien,” Bregman answered. “Siento listo. Los fanáticos en Houston gustan béisbol mucho y yo también, y listo para un buen partido hoy.”
Translation: “I feel good. I feel ready. Houston fans like baseball a lot, and so do I. I’m ready for a good game today.”
The response stunned Team USA manager (and former Cub) Mark DeRosa and provoked a double-take.
“I didn’t know you spoke Spanish…I didn’t even know that” DeRosa told Bregman.
Bregman responded with a laugh and a shrug.
“It was probably really bad,” Bregman replied.
USA manager Mark DeRosa didn’t expect this from Bregman 😅🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/DL8POSBY0X
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 9, 2026
Actually, his Spanish was pretty good, aside from a little bit of a hangup on the object/reflexive pronoun– the bane of all gringos looking to master the Spanish language.
Bregman’s spring so far
Bregman didn’t do quite as well during the actual game, though. He went 0 for 3 with a walk, bringing his WBC average down to .143 over three games as the team’s starting third baseman. Team USA did come out ahead in the game, though, winning 5-3. It was their first win over Team Mexico in 20 years.
Overall this spring, though, the new Cub has been killing it. In 5 Cactus League games so far, the soon-to-be 32-year-old is hitting .455 with one home run.
This season, Bregman will get the lion’s share of the playing time at third base for the Cubs, with last year’s starting third baseman Matt Shaw switched over to a utility role.
Chicago is hoping for him to become a cornerstone leader for the Cubs’ next generation and as a foundation for the establishment of a continued winning culture.
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