By SwingCompleto / contact@swincompleto.com
Every day there are hundreds of Cubans who arrive in the United States after crossing the border with their neighbor Mexico, but for a long time there had been no access to a player or former player known to all the fans of the Island.
Very recently, the former recipient of Industriales was admitted to the United States. Alejandro Regueira together with his wife and son, and are now in the process of waiting for the future residence.
Considered at the time as the most effective emerging Cuban ball, or at least the one that acquired the most fame in this sense, the one known by his friends as “reggaetón” has been outside of Cuba for two years. Until the moment of the decision to cross the border, Regueira worked as a coach for the Pirates of Campeche, a club belonging to the Mexican Summer League.
Regueira debuted in the National Series in the 2002-03 campaign and remained while Rey Vicente Anglada was at the helm of the Industriales. Although his official position was that of receiver, the presence of figures with more defensive capacity such as Joel Galarraga, Alden Mesa and Frank Camilo Morejón deprived him of wearing the harness for most of his stay with the capital lions.
In addition to his effectiveness as a pinch hitter, his biggest start as a starter was as a designated and very occasionally at first base and left field.
Their most important moment was that homerun in the second game of the 2004 Industriales-Villa Clara final, a connection that revived the Giraldilla squad and allowed them to win that and the rest of the games of that conclusive playoff in which they swept the orange.
The incredible thing about Regueira is that he decided to withdraw from elite baseball in Cuba when he was barely 25 years old at the end of the 2008-09 fight, despite the fact that many people considered that he had the offensive quality to play for a long time, either in Metropolitanos and the same Industrial.
Arroyo Naranjo’s natural left-handed hitter was a three-time champion with the Blues, and had his best year in the 45 Series. There he not only played longer than usual but his results were at a good height. He finished with a 345 average, four home runs and 37 RBIs. In seven seasons, he hit .290 with 14 full-turn hits and 117 RBIs.
Apart from standing out for those nerves of steel and courage to come from the bench many times and hit the ball that Industriales needed, his jovial character made him one of the most charismatic players in the team and at the fan level.
After many years detached from the sport of balls and strikes, Regueira dedicated himself to training children in his municipality. That work led him to travel to Mexico with a team called the Tigres and later he made enough connections to get to work as a hitting coach for the Francisco “Paquín” Estrada Pirates.
Upon arriving in the United States less than a week ago, he has already received some offers of collaboration with collegiate baseball in South Florida, although his main objective is to work with his son, whom many consider to have good future potential.