Cuban under-18 team
Havana, November 2 (PL)-- Just a few days before the kick-off of the U18 Pan American Baseball Championship, Cuba released its roster of 20 players for the tournament in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Scheduled for November 4-13, the event will grant four tickets to the World Cup of the category in 2023, a detail that maximizes the significance of the calendar and raises the adrenaline of the Caribbean squad, led by manager Severo Crespo.
After five weeks of training in the provinces of Ciego de Avila and Havana, the coaching staff selected two catchers, six infielders, four outfielders and eight pitchers.
The squad is headed by Julio Cesar Perez, the team's captain and mask, starter Eugenio Rodriguez, outfielder Yassel Izaguirre and outfielders Miguel Flores, Miguel Neyra, Jan Erwing Cabrera and Alberto Hechavarria.
Also on the roster are catcher Jonathan Luis Acosta, infielders Eugenio David Rodríguez, José Luis Cerice, Daniel David Díaz, Boris Javier Madrazo, Yoelvis López and Dayán Ernesto Ibañez.
Yandro Manuel Hernández, Samuel Martí and Marco Argudín will also be in charge of the pitching staff, while Darío Sarduy, Orisbel Borges, Daniel Ruíz and Eduardo Rodríguez will be looking for hits from the box.
Jolber Naranjo and Carlos Nieto, both Covid-19 positive, as well as Osdany Llorente and Dilan Argüelles, were eliminated this Tuesday in the last cut, by technical decision of the staff.
Regarding the composition of the team, the 58-year-old Crespo, the mentor, showed total complacency and ratified his confidence in the athletes: "Our first objective will be to achieve the World Cup quota.
This is a team of men, not of names, said the veteran coach exclusively to Prensa Latina, who made this phrase his own of the late Higinio Vélez, former president of the Cuban Federation of the discipline.
Cuba, the biggest historical winner of the competition with eight titles, will compete in Group A, along with Mexico, Dominican Republic, Panama and Nicaragua, while in Group B will be the United States, reigning champion, Venezuela, Canada, Puerto Rico and Peru.
The tournament will be held mainly in the city of La Paz, while several stadiums in Ciudad Constitución, Todos Santos, San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas will also host matches.
