The pitcher Elián Leiva, with an excellent performance in the last ARCO Mexican Pacific League, arrived this Friday in Okinawa, Japan, to join the team that will represent Cuba in the V World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Upon arrival at the hotel, the player born in Mayabeque and who works independently off the island, declared that he was “very excited and motivated to start working with the team.” as reported the digital site Hit.
#elCubaClasico has just welcomed the pitcher Elián Leyva in the concentration organized in #okinawa. Also pitcher Onelkis García joins this Sunday. pic.twitter.com/bnVinxU5Ii
— JIT Cuban Sport (@jit_digital) February 10, 2023
Elián appears as one of the possible starters in the rotation with which the Cuban team will face the demanding tournament, and in which for the first time it will have the services of players hired in foreign leagues without the protection of the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB)among those several Major League Baseball (MLB) players.
In his most recent foray into the Mexican tournament with the Naranjeros de Hermosillo, the 34-year-old Cuban pitcher signed a balance of seven wins and one loss, with an earned run average of 2.44,
Regarding your incorporation on this date to the Cuba team, Hit remember that it is the result of “a recently approved amendment requested by the organizers of the event to the original license granted by the United States government.”
This permit, recently confirmed by the head of the FCB, Reinaldo Pérez Pardo, will allow the immediate incorporation into the Cuban team of other players residing in the United States, but without ties to MLB teams, such as Yoenis Céspedes, Erisbel Arruebarruena, Yadil Mujica, Onelkis Garcia and Lorenzo Quintana.
Free agents can now join the Cuba team for the World Classic
The note from the specialized media anticipates that in the case of Onelkis, his joining the group is scheduled for next Sunday.
For players from any nation active in Major League Baseball franchises, the date set to join their respective teams is March 3, so Cuban manager Armando Johnson will only be able to count on key men like Luis Robert Moirán or Yoan Moncada when the team travels to Taiwan to finish the preparation.
In another report, Hit It is reviewed that the players who are preparing on Japanese soil are in “optimal state” physically and psychologically.
In their most recent training session, the group received a visit from Atsunori Inaba, manager of the cast of Japan that was crowned at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Inaba is currently the general manager of the Nippon Ham Luchadores team of the Japan Professional League (NPB), and he was pleased with the inclusion of Ariel Martínez from Matanzas in that franchise.
