By José Alejandro Rodríguez Zas
In the morning hours of today, October 19, the National Baseball Commission (CNB) officially announced a series of changes to the baseball preselection that is preparing to integrate the Cuba team to the I Junior Pan American Games of Cali-Valle 2021, which will be held from November 25 to December 5, as announced on a Jit note.
The aforementioned publication specifies that, from initial set announced In the first days of October, with a total of 27 players, infielder Darlin Luis Jiménez (GRA) and outfielder Cristian de Jesús López (HAB) were dropped from the team, because both did not appear at the summoned concentration. .
In Cristian’s case, as we reported yesterday, He fled the country to the Dominican Republic and is already there in search of a future in professional baseball, while with Darlin it is suspected that something similar to the cases of Yosimar Cousín or Yunior Tur is happening, since the young man from Granma Caused unexpected drop from the payroll to the U23 World Cup, just hours before leaving for Mexico.
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Continuing with Jit’s note, the site reports that five other players joined the preselection: catcher Pedro Pablo Revilla (GTM), infielder Carlos Rafael Rodríguez (LTU), outfielders Alejandro Javier Escobar (SSP) and Roberto Álvarez (MTZ), as well as left-handed pitcher Dairon Mena (GTM).
In this way, the group was made up of a total of 30 young Cuban baseball prospects, from where the team will leave for the Pan-American competition in Cali-Valle 2021, divided into 4 receivers, 8 infielders, 5 outfielders and a total of 13 pitchers.
Overall, 12 of the 16 teams in the National Baseball Series are represented in the group. Villa Clara is the group that has the largest number of players in the preselection with five, followed by Pinar del Río and Mayabeque with four, Cienfuegos and Matanzas with three, Las Tunas, Sancti Spíritus, Granma and Guantánamo with two, while Industriales (Havana ), Ciego de Ávila and Santiago de Cuba have only one. The provinces of Isla de la Juventud, Holguín, Camagüey and Artemisa went blank.
In addition, within the group of 30, seven of the 12 players who returned to Cuba from the U23 World Cup were called, the cases of receiver Andry Pérez (MTZ), infielder and outfielder Guillermo García (GRA) and pitchers Naikel Cruz ( MTZ), Kelbis Rodríguez (GRA), José Eduardo Santos (SSP), Frank Abel Álvarez (PRI) and Marlon Vega (MAY). The other five do not meet the age requirement of the Pan American contest.
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Without further ado, here I leave you with the preselection, which is directed, again, by the very controversial and questioned Eriel Sanchez, who has been in the news in recent months, perhaps many more than in his entire sports career with Sancti Spíritus and Team Cuba.
THE PRESELECTION
Receivers (4): Andry Pérez (MTZ), Jorge Yoan Rojas (PRI), Ariel Pestano Jr. (VCL) and Pedro Pablo Revilla (GTM).
Infielders (8): Guillermo García (GRA), Tony Guerra (PRI), Javier Carabeo (MAY), Adrián Rivera (CFG), Juan Carlos López (VCL), Raidel Pedraza (VCL), Cristian Rodríguez (VCL) and Carlos Rafael Rodríguez (LTU ).
Gardeners (5): Roider Martínez (PRI), Ottoniel González (VCL), Dailer Peña Torres (LTU), Alejandro Javier Escobar (SSP) and Roberto Álvarez (MTZ).
Launchers (13): Naikel Cruz (MTZ), Kelbis Rodríguez (GRA), José Eduardo Santos (SSP), Frank Abel Álvarez (PRI), Marlon Vega (MAY), Yandi Molina (HAB), Yosvany Ávalos (CAV), Luis Ángel Fonseca (SCU) , Luis Alejandro Serpa (CFG), Alex Daniel Pérez (CFG), Mailon Cruz (MAY), Alyanser Álvarez (MAY) and Dairon Mena (GTM).
It is indicated that the infielders Guillermo García (GRA), Javier Carabeo (MAY), Raidel Pedraza (VCL) can also play in the outfield.
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