By José Alejandro Rodríguez Zas
Almost a month ago, on October 7, the Cuban baseball authorities made known, officially, a preselection of 27 players from which the Cuba team would come to the I Junior Pan American Games, to be held in Cali and Valle, Colombia, between November 25 and December 5 to come.
This group of players included seven of the 12 players who returned to Cuba after participating in the III U23 Baseball World Cup, from an initial roster of 24, led by former receiver from Spiritus Eriel Sánchez, also the manager of this team that will participate. in the Colombian continental appointment.
However, several weeks later, on October 19, we advertise on this website some modifications made to said preselection, due to some withdrawals that arose for different reasons. Specifically, reference was made to Granma infielder Darlin Luis Jiménez (GRA) and outfielder Cristian de Jesús López (HAB), the latter for leaving the country.
In addition to those two casualties, five new players joined the group, to add a total of 30 who would be preparing in the field of the Santiago “Changa” Mederos State of the capital of all Cubans.
Precisely, one of those last five players incorporated into the group, caused a loss in the last hours, according to the sports journalist of Radio Rebelde, Guillermo Rodríguez, published on his social networks. This is the left-handed pitcher from Guantanamo Dairon Mena, who “had a shoulder injury when pitching.”
According precise doctor Francisco Montesino, the left-hander from Guantanamo, had already presented problems in his throwing arm since the final stage of the last baseball contest, a situation that did not improve during his stay with the preselection and he was seen, in fact, with an appreciable decrease in its speed.
“We have been evaluating him since he started training and we saw that he was not at his usual speed. We took him to the Frank País Hospital to evaluate him with the shoulder specialist and we decided, with his consent, to perform an arthroscopy, Montesino told the aforementioned journalist.
The Cuban baseball doctor specified that Mena’s situation requires an operation and he would be away from baseball for approximately five months, attending to his recovery.
«After the surgical intervention, he has to wait about 10 weeks to shoot balls again with a program that we have for these cases and after this time he would have to wait to join the daily game for another 10 weeks. It must be incorporated in March or April, it depends on its recovery, “added Montesino.
This represents another sensitive loss for the Cuba team and for the selection of the Matanzas Crocodiles for the upcoming 61st edition of the National Series, since the Guantanamo player had recently received approval to move to the Yumurino cast and play next season with the current national runners-up.
In the coming weeks, the Cuba team that will participate in the Cali-Valle 2021 Pan American Championship will be officially announced, a contest that will take place at the Edgar Renteria stadium in the alternate venue in Barranquilla.
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ANOTHER LOW IN Cuban baseball preselection to Cali-Valle 2021