Havana, December 4 (RHC) - The legacy of one of the most spectacular Cuban baseball players, Germán Mesa, is not limited only to all the wonderful things he did as a pitcher inside and outside Cuba. Nor to that 2010 season, when he, as manager, gave the blue fans the last Industriales crown in the National Series.
The native of the capital, who was also a good hitter, has also left as manager a mark in Nicaragua, superior to the one planted on the island, which places him among the most select mentors with experience in the country's professional league.
Many know that the number 11 of the Leones and national teams accumulates two titles in the National Professional Baseball League of Nicaragua. Soon, Germán will have the opportunity to seek his third crown in that country.
It was reported that the Rivas Giants fired their manager, Venezuelan Rainer Olmedo, and hired Anibal Vega as interim manager. A source close to the club informed Cubalite that Vega will be in that position until the arrival of Mesa, who will be the new helmsman. "Germán is expected to arrive in Nicaragua this week with the objective of straightening out the team. After a bad streak, the Giants are in second place at 10-9," he said.
The first time that El Mago Mesa managed in Nicaragua was during the 2012-2013 season. At the helm of the Tigres de Chinandega and accompanied by Omar Linares -batting coach-, he led the regular stage (29-25) and won a direct place in the final. In that instance, the Tigers defeated the Orientales de Granada in six games and thus obtained their second diadem, while Germán became champion for the first time.
The second title in that Central American country for the native of Cotorro came in his third season, the second with the Rivas Giants, in 2015-2016. With a performance of 20 hits and 22 setbacks, the Rivas team finished third in the qualifying phase, so they had to face the Tigres de Chinandega in the playoff series.
After winning the duel in four games, they defeated the Orientales de Granada in the dispute for first place, in a series that went to the seventh game. In January 2016 he placed the Giants on the cusp of the Latin American Series, which represented the first gold for Nicaragua in that contest.
In the 2019 contest he was not included in the final, managing the Giants, but he also has in his endorsement two subtitles with the representative of Rivas: 2014-2015 - they topped the preliminary segment, but succumbed for the scepter against the Indios del Boer in six challenges - and 2016-2017 - they finished second in the initial round and for the title they lost, in five games, against the Tigres de Chinandega.
In five championships as manager this is his harvest: two golds, a pair of silvers and a bronze. His transit through the qualifying stages leaves him with 123 wins and 99 losses.
But Germán Mesa is not the only Cuban manager who knows what it is to win in the Nicaraguan Professional League, as that honor has also been won by Jorge Fuentes (2006, Chinandega) and Lourdes Gurriel (2008, Boer), while Juan Castro, from Pinar del Río, was second in 2014 with Boer. In the 2016-2017 competition, Havana's Rey Vicente Anglada (Granada, fourth place) and Juan Padilla (Boer, third place) led the team.
