The Cuban baseball players hired in the Japan Professional League (NPB) covered by the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB)will not be available to join the national team that will participate in the Central American and Caribbean Games, to be held next summer.
The regional sports event is agreed from June 23 to July 8 next. Cuba will be represented by players who play mostly in the National Series, according to the declarations of the head of the FCB, Juan Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, at a press conference reviewed through the sports portal Hit.
Preparations continue for the 62nd National Series of #Baseball
Details in the CNB press conference held today in the Adolfo Luque Hall of the Latin American Stadium. #Cuba #BaseBall #62SNB https://t.co/fKIgLXETPm pic.twitter.com/qpfKi5KLfO— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) February 20, 2023
The manager assured that those who play in the Japanese professional tournament would enter the call for the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile (November).
Currently, the FCB supports pitchers Raidel Martínez, Liván Moinelo and Mariel Rodríguez, as well as position player Ariel Martínez, to participate with professional teams from Japan. At a lower level, Frank Abel Álvarez, Pedro Pablo Revilla and Guillermo García would continue.
The consecrated Alfredo Despaigne and Yerisbel Gracias ended their contracts with the Softbank Halcones. So far it has not transpired that they are going to be linked to other teams in the Japanese professional league.
Regarding the players who go to other leagues, such as those of Mexico and Canada, Pérez Pardo specified that the entity he heads is working to implement clauses in their contracts that allow them to attend both games, including a tournament in the Americas scheduled for the month of May.
The also national baseball commissioner explained that the FCB currently manages the contracts of more than 20 players in the country.
In addition, he confirmed that the 62nd National Baseball Series will begin on March 22, one day after the conclusion of the V World Baseball Classic, and that its first phase will end before the start of the Central Caribbean event in San Salvador.
Another of the commitments that the Cuban baseball players will assume during the first part of the year are the V ALBA Games in Venezuela, an appointment that the governments of the regional alliance intend to relaunch with their realization during the month of April.
