In Tenerife, thousands of kilometers from the Caribbean, Cuban pitcher Pablo Luis Guillén (Santa Clara, 1998) will experience the emotions of the Antillean team in the World Baseball Classic, which in a matter of hours will begin its sixth edition in cities in Japan, the United States and Puerto Rico. Distance will not be an excuse for the former member of the Villa Clara Leopards, who in one way or another maintains the connection with his land.
“My feeling is with Cuba, I would like them to win,” Guillén assures OnCubaalthough he immediately notes that, analyzing the event as a baseball player, his favorite is Japan. “I’m very Japanese, I like that team. I respect the Dominican Republic and the United States a lot, but the Asian culture is superior, especially in discipline. If they don’t beat them, they won’t beat them.
“It is true that if the United States arrives at their best level it will be difficult to surpass them, because they have the best in the world. The question is that they arrive well. In that sense, Japan has always managed to have a better dynamic and apply its small game, running, stealing, touching, putting the ball in play,” explains the Caribbean pitcher.
Regarding Cuba, Guillén points out that he prefers to avoid comparisons with the team from the last edition of the Classic, placed in a creditable fourth place after advancing to the semifinals: “In 2023, perhaps there were eligible players who could not be counted on now, and vice versa. I believe that those who are now on the team are the best among those who can go and those who want to go.”
Regarding the possibilities of the Caribbean team directed by Germán Mesa, the Villa Clara shooter does not dare to make predictions, he only hopes that they advance and go as far as possible.
The call to the legionaries
One of the features that distinguishes the Cuban team in the sixth edition of the World Classic is the presence of 15 emigrated players currently residing outside the island. Pablo Luis Guillén fits that profile of a legionnaire, because since 2021 he left his homeland, settled in the United States and then moved to Europe, while alternating professional experiences in Venezuela, Italy and Spain.
At full strength and with talent intact, the man from Villa Clara could have been an option for the Antillean team, but he did not receive any call. This, Guillén assures, does not torment him, because right now it is not a priority to wear the shirt of his native country.
“I have said it before, I have no problem with playing in Cuba, with Villa Clara, but it is not among my priorities. If they had called me with interest in me competing, maybe I would think about it, because the Classic is a unique opportunity, but it didn’t happen. For some time now I have been living abroad with my family and I think a little differently about what has to do with the country. So, right now I don’t see myself playing with Cuba or in Cuba,” he points out.
However, he recognizes that the inclusion of players who emigrated and have now surpassed themselves in the professional field is crucial for Cuba if it aspires to compete in such a high-level event. Precisely, one of the legionnaires summoned by Germán Mesa and his management team is the receiver Omar Hernández, with whom Guillén had the opportunity to share in the Spanish team.
“I don’t know how many catchers born in Cuba will be signed with Major League organizations, but there shouldn’t be many. Omar is clearly one of the best. He has played Double-A and Triple-A, he hits, he runs, he has strength and discipline. In that position it is difficult to find a man of such quality within Cuban baseball. I think he will fit well into the team,” he points out.
The Spanish dream, why not?
More than a year has passed since February 22, 2025, when Nicaraguan Benjamín Alegría stole the smile from the Spanish baseball team. In the distant Taipei Dome in Taiwan, the striker hit a line drive to center field that left the Europeans prone at the height of the tenth inning and brought the Pinolera nation closer to the second World Classic in its history.
That match remains in the memory of the Cuban pitcher Pablo Luis Guillén (Santa Clara, 1998), who observed from the sidelines how the Spanish dream of accessing the highest national team event in the sport of balls and balls for the first time in more than a decade became complicated. strikes.
“We had it in our hands to get into the Classic, we lost by one run to Nicaragua in extra innings in that qualifying tournament,” he recalls in OnCuba Antillean law.
After that defeat, Guillén was in charge of taking the ball for the Iberian squad against South Africa, a team that he tied up for six innings with eight strikeouts and only two hits and one run on his account. Their victory gave Spain a new chance to qualify, but then Chinese Taipei eliminated them in a do-or-die duel.
Despite the bitter pill, the Caribbean is convinced that new opportunities will come to sneak into big events for Spanish baseball: “Why not? Here it is true that baseball does not have the same popularity as in Cuba or America, but each country has its league and participates in continental championships. There are many foreigners inserted and that has raised the level.”
