As the World Baseball Classic continues group stage games, Phillies fans have gotten to see their favorite players alongside other MLB stars. It's objectively awesome to see Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber be teammates with Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh.
But it's not just the big guns making noise from the Phillies on the WBC stage. Their first-round pick from 2021 had a massive Saturday for Team Italy. In his first official WBC game, outfielder Dante Nori hit two home runs, a double, and walked against Team Brazil.
The effort helped the Itlaians secure their first win of the tournament against a Brazilian team that lost 15-5 against Team USA. Nori's first homer gave Team Italy a three-run lead on rout to an 8-0 beatdown.
While the homers came against a former minor league pitcher and a college pitcher, the power stroke was a surprise from the typically light-hitting Nori. In 139 minor league games, Nori has hit only four round-tippers. Between three levels in 2025, Nori hit a combined .261 with a .732 OPS.
Editor's note: The young outfielder continued to make an impact during Sunday's game against Team Great Britain. Nori went 2-4 with an RBI and walk in Team Italy's 7-4 victory.
Nori started his time with Team Italy just as hot. On Wednesday, Italy played an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in which Nori started in left field. Nori recorded two hits and two runs scored in the game. In a lefty-on-lefty matchup, he roped a double against former All-Star Drew Pomeranz.
On their updated top-30 prospect rankings, MLB.com ranked Nori seventh in the Phillies' system behind Aroon Escobar. Before leaving for the WBC, Nori was just 2-11 in Spring Training with the Phillies.
Perhaps the brighter lights are bringing the best out of the Phillies' prospect. Team Italy will play at least three more games in the group stage. On Tuesday, they'll face off against the vaunted Team USA. They'll have to finish in the top two of group B to advance to the knockout stage.
Nori will face stiffer competition from this point onward. Will he keep shining, or will his potential remain just that? There will be plenty of games ahead for the 21-year-old prospect to find out.
