Cesar Garcia

Havana, February 2 (ACN)-- Cuban right-hander César García will be the starter today for Agricultores against the Curacao Wildcats, at the beginning of the LXV Gran Caracas 2023 Caribbean Series at the Jorge Luis García Carneiro stadium, located in the beautiful coastal area of La Guaira.

García will have to be at his best from the mound, as the Curacao team includes several major leaguers such as Andrelton Simmons and Jonathan Schoop, in addition to slugger Wladimir Balentien. The starter could be the experienced Shairon Martis, who got a no-hitter in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

If Cuban mentor Carlos Martí keeps the lineup used in the two friendly games played in the Latin American against a group of players from the Cuba team that will attend the V World Classic (March 8-20), he could open with Yunieski Larduet (cf), Raico Santos (rf) and Yordanis Alarcón (2b).

As fourth bat would be Yosvani Alarcón (c) and behind him would be Rafael Viñales (1b), Guillermo Avilés (bd), Denis Laza (lf), Andrés de la Cruz (ss) and Osvaldo Abreu (3b=.

This event, which will begin today, will be the first in which teams from eight countries will participate.

After its reincorporation to the Caribbean Series in 2014, the best Cuban performance in these competitions was the title won by the Vegueros of Pinar del Río mentor Alfonso Urquiola in 2015, at the venue of the Puerto Rican Hiram Bithorn Stadium, where they beat the Mexican club Tomateros de Culiacán 3-2 in the final.

And the worst was precisely in their 2014 debut in Margaritas Islands, Venezuela, where the Naranjas de Villa Clara team finished in fifth place, with only one victory (2-1 against Indios de Mayagüez, from Puerto Rico) and a whopping four defeats.