HISTORIC: Player of the National Series will defend the colors of Italy and will face Cuba in the Harlem Tournament


By Marcos Conde

The 30th edition of the Haarlem Baseball Week, Holland, will be held from July 8 to 15 and will be held at the Pim Mulier Stadion. In it, Cuba will be represented by the Alazanes de Granma directed by Carlos Martí.

In recent days, the lists of the teams that will participate in the tournament have been revealed, with the Italian team being one of the most recently released to the public who will be defending the colors of the European team.

To the surprise of many among the names that make up the Italian team, a Cuban appears, Noel González, former player of the Holguín Cubs and who currently plays for Parma in Serie A. The son of Noelvis González, former team manager from Holguin, has been inserted in the first level circuit of Italian baseball for several years, burning the league.

Since last year 2021, in September specifically, Noel González debuted as a player for the Italian team in the European championship under the reins of former Major League Baseball Mike Piazza, the same man who will be directing him in Harlem.

Only one other Cuban had represented the Italian national team before González and it was Laidel Chapellí, a baseball player from Camagüey, twin brother of Loidel Chapellí and uncle of current Minor League star Loidel Chapellí Jr. Laidel played for many years in Serie A and in statements by the same player in 2021 to the digital media CubaLite, he was the only man from Cuba who had played under the Italian flag.

In six National Series with Holguín, Noel González accumulates a .298 average (630-188) with 38 doubles and two home runs as extra-base hits. In addition, he is still linked to the SNB and appears on the list of Cuban baseball talents prepared by the National Commission and who will be in the 2020-2024 Special Attention Training Center. Cuba and Italy will be seeing each other in Harlem on July 13, at the closing of the regular phase of the tournament.

We would love to say thanks to the writer of this article for this awesome content

HISTORIC: Player of the National Series will defend the colors of Italy and will face Cuba in the Harlem Tournament