Bjarkman's Latino and Cuban League Baseball History Page

Updated Look for Cuban Baseball's Leading Website

2009-10-28T18:47:29Z

With the brand new season (National Series #49) about to debut this coming Sunday, www.baseballdecuba.com has unveiled its "new look" home page with dozens of added features guaranteed to improve the experience of following Cuban League baseball from cyberspace. In addition to the new user-friendly design, the site has added links to our entire previous international tournament coverage and expanded its base of individual player and composite team statistics. Another welcome addition is the featured reports (in Spanish) of former Metros play-by-play broadcaster and Radio COCO commentator Yasel Porto, who will provide weekly commentaries directly from Havana. Up-to-date standings for both the Occidental and Oriente Leagues are now also featured on the main page, and a complete season schedule is available for easy download. As in previous years, live radio and television feeds of league games across the island will also again be featured. Opening Day is Sunday, November 2, with last season's finalists, Habana Province and Villa Clara, clashing in San José's Nelson Fernández Stadium. Check out the new-look version of Cuban baseball's most authoritative website well before Sunday afternoon's inaugural pitch. And stay with us through post-season play in March and early April. September's successful World Cup in Europe was only the beginning of international baseball's new and exciting winter season.

Cuba's Margin Cut as Top IBAF World Baseball Power

2009-10-19T21:14:51Z

A pair of gold medal defeats at the hands of Team USA--in the recent IBAF World Cup and the IBAF AA/16 World Youth Champions--has significantly reduced Cuba's lead as the world's top ranking baseball nation. The two USA triumphs vaulted the Americans from their previous fourth-place slot into the runner-up position; at the same time Cuba's previous first-place margin of 224.86 points (over Korea in the last poll, released in mid-August) has been more than cut in half (it now stands at 108.36 points) by the late Yankee surge. Two Asian powers--Korea and Japan--fell to fourth and third place respectively after both failing to qualify for the third round of the September Europe-based World Cup event. Other minor shifts in the Top Ten saw Canada (the World Cup bronze medalist) and Mexico flip-flopping in the seventh and eighth slots, and Italy surging from number 15 to number 12 on the strength of its own first-round World Cup performance. The IBAF rankings actually include 72 baseball-playing nations, with Ghana and Samoa bringing up the rear of the list.

1. Cuba (1159.68 points)

2. USA (1051.32 points)

3. Japan (912.07 points)

4. Korea (850.76 points)

5. Chinese Taipei (561.63 points)

6. Netherlands (405.33 points)

7. Canada (360.19 points)

8. Mexico (353.75 points)

9. Venezuela (298.86 points)

10. Puerto Rico (231.39 points)

11. Australia (211.24)

12. Italy (166.00 points)

13. Dominican Republic (135.68 points)

14. Nicaragua (117.49 points)

15. China (102.00 points)

16. Panama (92.32 points)

17. Spain (67.38 points)

18. Thailand (63.38 points)

19. Philippines (62.33 points)

20. Germany (48.38 points)

Top-twenty ranked countries failing to make an appearance in the September World Cup showcase event were the Dominican Republic, Panama, Thailand and the Philippines. The Dominicans managed to hold onto their number 13 ranking despite yet another failure to qualify for the IBAF World Cup field; while the Caribbean island nation proudly points to its legacy of supplying major league talent it has little in the way of a national baseball program which islanders might point to with any pride. The biggest tumble by previously highly ranked nations was experienced by Brazil which slipped from #20 in August to #35 in the current rankings.

The IBAF debuted is world ranking system in January 2009 and these rankings are based on points earned in IBAF-sanctioned events during either a four-year window or the period encompassed by two World Cup events. Cuba has been ranked at the top of all three previously released polls while the USA, Japan and Korea have been jockeying for the number two, three and four slots.

Baseball World Cup Action Provides Some Big Bangs

2009-09-16T15:05:36Z

While the stateside version of the sport grinds toward its conclusion and its October post-season tournament, an alternative tournament with a far more legitimate claim to the title of baseball's "World Series" has moved into its second round here in Europe. The biggest surprise of the IBAF-sponsored World Cup so far has been the opening round extra-inning loss of Team USA to Venezuela in Regensburg, Germany. That 13-9 11-inning afair was enough to send the Americans into second round action in Italy (as Group D) runner-up) rather than the expected venue in Holland (as group winner). It did, however, clear the way for a possible Cuba-USA rematch in this year's title game, since the eventual winners of the Holland and Italy groups will clash for the title on September 27 (in Nettuno, Italy).

The USA loss perhaps provided the biggest news but not the most dramatic moment of the tournament to date. That came in Barcelona last Saturday in the form of a pinch-hit eighth-inning homer by Cuba's Yosvany Peraza that rescued the many-time world champions from a near-monumental upset at the hands of upstart Spain. With his big bang Peraza became the only player ever to pinch-hit a game-winning home run in his first-ever at-bats in both the World Baseball Classic (that one coming against Australia in Mexico City) and the IBAF World Cup. But there was far more to the story as Peraza's apparent three-run smash was quickly reduced to a two-run shot when the Cuban catcher passed teammate Ariel Borrero on the basepaths. For the full story on that dramatic clutch hit and the baserunning error that might have cost Cuba the game, the reader is directed to my in-depth reports found at www.baseballdecuba.com.

Genuine Baseball WORLD Series Launches in Europe

2009-08-28T20:32:43Z

The sport's actual world championship event unfolds not in October in New York, Boston or Los Angeles, but rather at scattered locations across Europe in early September. The MLB "Fall Classic" of course has nothing at all to do with "world" or "international" competitions but rather merely decides a North American "corporate" baseball champion. And the novel World Baseball Classic now staged every fourth year in March is only a small step closer to a true international event, given that (with the exception of Cuba's entry) that affair is restricted to but a handful of countries boasting MLB-owned ballplayers.

For the crowning of a true WORLD champion one must turn to the alternate-year IBAF-sponsored Baseball World Cup tournament, now about to open in Europe for its 38th edition. This year's event will be staged at multiple venues for the first time, with first-round games (involving 20 nations) commencing in Spain, Germany, Croatia, Sweden and the Czech Republic on September 9-10. Round two action (including Italy and Holland which own first-round byes) will move to venues in The Netherlands and Italy, with the title match slatted for September 27th in Nettuno, Italy.

Those interested in following this event (admittedly from a Cuban perspective) can do so on our website at www.baseballdecuba.com. I will be trailing the Cuban team to their round one and two venues in Barcelona and Holland, and then on to the finals in Italy. Our detailed World Cup page contains not only my daily English-language reports but also numerous Spanish and English tournament news items, history, schedules, standings, detailed statistics, photos, and even radio and television feeds for all Team Cuba games. This promises to be the most detailed World Cup page found anywhere on the internet.

The World Cup website homepage can be found at the following link:

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/wcup2009.html

For a detailed story on the recently released Team Cuba roster, the reader is also directed to the following link:

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/WCup2009newsContainer.asp?id=1750

And for information on the Team USA roster, as well as the prospects for the American entry, the reader is directed to the following USA BASEBALL website link:

http://web.usabaseball.com/teams/index.jsp?team=940

Cuba has captured the world championship (the event was known as the IBAF Amateur World Series until its renaming in 1988) in 25 of the 29 years that it has entered, including a recent string of nine straight titles between 1982 and 2007. Team USA (led by Evan Longoria) claimed its first-ever crown with a 6-3 gold medal win over the Cubans in Taipei back in November 2007. (The USA did win two similar alternate events staged outside the IBAF framework in 1973 and 1974.) Will the Americans be up to the challenge of protecting their new-found championship status this time around, or will the juggernaunt Cubans return to a long-accostumed position of domination? Stay tuned to www.baseballdecuba.com for all the daily reports and live tournament action.

Cuba Retains Its Number One World Baseball Ranking

2009-08-14T19:52:46Z

With baseball's true "World Series" only three weeks away, Cuba has expanded its lead over runner-up Korea in the IBAF world baseball rankings, Cuba's gap over Asian powers Korea and Japan expanded with a gold medal triumph at the recent Rotterdam World Port Tournament. The latest poll is the third since the IBAF began its world rankings on the heels of last summer's Beijing Olympics. The latest IBAF poll also accompanied news that once again the International Olympic Committee has voted down both baseball and softball was medal sports for the 2016 Games that will likely be held in either Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, or Chicago.

This month's IBAF rankings also included women's baseball for the first tie, with Japan, the USA and Canada filling the top three slots. The top twenty in the men's rankings were as follows:

1. Cuba (1209.68 points)

2. Korea (984.82 points)

3. Japan (947.00 points

4. USA (889.32 points)

5. Chinese Taipei (591.82 points)

6. Holland (412.57 points)

7. Mexico (302.75 points)

8. Canada (280.19 points)

9. Venezuela (233.18 points)

10. Puerto Rico (215.39 points)

11. Australia (214.11 points)

12. Panama (212.32 points)

13. Dominican Republic (135.68 points)

14. Nicaragua (131.25 points)

15. Italy (130.88 points)

16. China (125.00 points)

17. Thailand (58.50 points)

18. Spain (54.50 points)

19. Philippines (50.83 points)

20. Brasil (41.50 points)

With Olympic baseball having fallen by the wayside for the foreseeable future, next month's IBAF World Cup takes on added significance as the one true measure of baseball's legitimate "world championship" status. More will be written about the upcoming IBAF tournament on this page in coming days. But an early indication of this year's favorite might be gleened from the fact that defending champion Team USA (which captured its first-ever crown in Taiwan in November 2007) has yet to even name an official roster. At the same time the Cubans are immersed in a month-long highly competitive domestic all-star series to winnow down their national team roster from its current size of 56 candidates. The Americans will begin World Cup warmups with a brief four-game exhibition series (versus Canada's entry) in Cary, North Carolina on September 3-6. On those same dates 2007 runner-up Cuba (winner of 25 previous World Cup crowns) competes in the Italian Baseball Week (with Italy, Venezuela and Chinese Taipei). World Cup first-round action opens up in five European locations on Serptember 9, with Cuba playing in Barcelona and Team USA slotted for Germany.

Yunieski Maya Left Off Cuban World Cup Tryout Roster

2009-07-17T20:01:25Z

With IBAF World Cup 38 looming on the horizon in less than two months time, the Cuban Baseball Federation yesterday announced a list of 58 players who will compete to fill 24 coveted roster spots for the opening of the September games in Barcelona. These 58 hopefuls comprise two all-star rosters that will compete in a trial exhibition series staged throughout the island from late-July until late-August. Representing (more or less) the two Cuban League regional divisions, these all-star clubs will be directed by Esteban Lombillo (manager of the recent Occidentales champions, Habana Province) and Eduardo Martin (skipper of the Orientales National Series finalists, Villa Clara). The complete announced rosters are as follows:

OCCIDENTALES (WEST) TEAM

Manager: Esteban Lombillo (Habana Province)

Coaches: Rafael Muñoz and Omar Linares

Trainer: Javier Gálvez

Catchers: Eriel Sánchez (Sancti Spíritus), Yosvani Peraza (Pinar del Río), Yaimel Alberro (Matanzas)

Infielders: José Dariel Abreu (Cienfuegos), Yoandri Garlobo (Matanzas), Rafael Valdés (Pinar del Río), Ernesto Molinet (Habana Province), Michel Enríquez (Isla de la Juventud), Yariel Duque (Matanzas), Roberto Carlos Ramírez (Metros), Rudy Reyes (Industriales), Donald Duarte (Pinar del Río)

Outfielders: Frederich Cepeda (Sancti Spíritus), Leonys Martin (Villa Clara), Jorge Padrón (Pinar del Río), Juan Carlos Linares (Habana Province), Ariel Sánchez (Matanzas), Irait Chirino (Metros)

Pitchers: Pedro Luis Lazo (Pinar del Río), Yadier Pedroso (Habana Province), Yulieski González (Habana Province), Miguel Alfredo González (Habana Province), Ismel Jiménez (Sancti Spíritus), Miguel Lahera (Habana Province), Jonder Martínez (Habana Province), Vladimir Baños (Pinar del Río), Noelvis Entenza (Cienfuegos), Norberto González (Cienfuegos), Arleys Sánchez (Industriales)

Of the 29-man West League roster, nine members appeared on Cuba's March World Baseball Classic ball club (position players Peraza, Enríquez, Cepeda, and Martin; pitchers Lazo, Yulieski González, Jiménez, Lahera, and Norberto González).

ORIENTALES (EAST) TEAM

Manager: Eduardo Martin (Villa Clara)

Coaches: Luis Jova and Orestes Kindelán

Trainer: Omar Carrero

Catchers: Ariel Pestano (Villa Clara), Rolando Meriño (Santiago de Cuba), Yulexis la Rosa (Villa Clara)

Infielders: Ariel Borrero (Villa Clara), Yorelvis Charles (Ciego de Avila), Héctor Olivera (Santiago de Cuba), Yoilán Cerce (Guantánamo), Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus), Adonis García (Ciego de Avila), Luis Miguel Navas (Santiago de Cuba), Yorbis Borroto (Ciego de Avila), Alexander Guerrero (Las Tunas)

Outfielders: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma), Yoennis Céspedes (Granma), Giorvis Duvergel (Guantánamo), Yoelvis Fiss (Ciego de Avila), Leslie Anderson (Camagüey), Yeral Sánchez (Holguín).

Pitchers: Norge Luis Vera (Santiago de Cuba), Freddy Asiel Alvarez (Villa Clara), Maikel Folch (Ciego de Avila), Yaumier Sánchez (Santiago de Cuba), Vladimir García (Ciego de Avila), Valeri García (Ciego de Avila), Alfredo Unzúe (Ciego de Avila), Alberto Bicet (Santiago de Cuba), Alien Mora (Ciego de Avila), Misael Silverio (Villa Clara), Dany Betancourt (Santiago de Cuba).

Of the 29-man East League roster, eleven members also appeared on Cuba's 2009 WBC squad (position players Pestano, Meriño, Olivera, Gourriel, Navas, Despaigne, Céspedes and Anderson; pitchers Vera, Vladimir García, and Dany Betancourt). Yulieski Gourriel has been assigned to the West squad to balance the rosters, though his Sancti Spíritus club plays in the Occidentales league.

Several surprises are immediately apparent in these roster announcements. First and foremost are the absences of Pinar del Río ace right-hander Yunieski Maya (13-game winner and "best right-hander" selection on this year's post-season all-star team), Santiago outfielder Alexei Bell (slugging star of last summer's Beijing Olympics), and Las Tunas first baseman Joan Carlos Pedroso (member of both Cuban WBC teams). Pedroso has been bumped aside by emerging youngsters José Dariel Abreu and Yorelvis Charles; his slim chances for selection were also hurt rather dramatically by the recent stellar World Port Tournament performance of Villa Clara veteran Ariel Borrero. Bell--who underperformed throughout the entireNational Series #48 campaign after suffering an eye injury in the season's opener--is apparently still not healthy enough for resurrection in the national team picture. But the most shocking absence, of course, is that of Maya, who has now been reported by the Cuban press as being suspended by league officials for "serious disciplinary infractions" (no details given). Such language usually refers to a player's illegal attempts to leave the country, but in this case there has been no confirmation of the exact nature of Maya's disciplinary problems.

For more details and analysis on the Cuban World Cup roster, see might complete version of this story at www.baseballdecuba.com.

Cuba Reigns as 2009 Rotterdam World Port Champion

2009-07-12T17:03:40Z

The finals of the Rotterdam World Port Tournament on Sunday afternoon proved to be a perfect mirror image of the entire twelve-day event, with Cuba tattooing Dutch pitching for an easy 9-3 victory. Cuba's top two hurlers--Miguel Alfredo González (Habana Province) and Maikel Folch (Ciego de Avila)--both stymied Netherlands hitters most of the afternoon. The only significant Dutch uprising came with a two-run homer by Sydney de Jong off González in the top of the sixth. Folch allowed a single scratch hit over the final four frames to pick up the championship victory. Cuba's attack was led by catcher Eriel Sánchez (3 for 5 with a two-run homer in the fifth) and first baseman Ariel Borrero (also 3 for 5 with two RBI). The title was Cuba's fourth straight in this event (following wins in 2001, 2003 and 2007).

Complete coverage of (and commentary on) the 2009 World Port Tournament is still available at http://www.baseballdecuba.com/rotterdam2009.asp

Cuba (represented by the Cuba B second-string national team roster) dominated the tournament from start to finish, losing only a meaningless final pool-play game to Japan and suffering a tie match with Chinese Taipei (played on a day when rainouts forced three scheduled games and thus prevented extra-inning play). The runner-up Netherlands was represented by essentially the same ball club that embarrassed the Dominican Republic big leaguers in the March World Baseball Classic, while Japan and Taiwan fielded national university all-star ball clubs.

Below is a summary of tournament individual awards, statistics and final standings:

Individual Player Awards

Most Valuable Player: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba)

Top Pitcher: Maikel Folch (Cuba)

Leading Hitter: Adonis García (Cuba)

Home Run King: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba)

Best Rookie: Nick Urbanus (Netherlands)

Most Popular Player: Nick Urbanus (Netherlands)

World Port Tournament Final Standings (End of Round Robin Games)

Team, Record (Runs For and Against as Tie-Breaker), Point Totals

Cuba 7-1-1 (53-16) 15 points

Netherlands 4-5 (31-42) 8 points

Chinese Taipei 3-5-1 (33-36) 7 points

Japan 3-6 (21-44) 6 points

Finals: Cuba 9-17-1, The Netherlands 3-6-1

Top Ten Tournament Hitters (End of Round Robin Games)

Adonis García (Cuba) .500 (30 ABs, 15 Hits, 6 Runs)

Bas de Jong (Netherlands) .440

Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) .429 (.657 slugging average, 2 homers, 12 RBI)

Ariel Borrero (Cuba) .414 (.655 slugging average)

Eriel Sánchez (Cuba) .367 (.567 slugging average)

Eugene Kingsale (Netherlands) .344

Bryan Englehardt (Netherlands) .333

Sydney de Jong (Netherlands) .324

Leonys Martin (Cuba) .300

Raily Legito (Netherlands) .300

Yorbis Borroto (Cuba) .300

Batting Leaders (End of Round Robin Games)

Batting Average: Adonis García (Cuba) .500

Slugging Average: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) .657

On-Base Percentage: Adonis García (Cuba) .545

Home Runs: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) 2

RBI: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) 12

Stolen Bases: Yohei Yamamoto (Japan) 5

Base Hits: Adonis García (Cuba) 15

Runs Scored: Ariel Borrero (Cuba) 8

Doubles: Eriel Sánchez (Cuba) 6

Total Bases: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) 23

Top Ten Tournament Pitchers (End of Round Robin Games)

Maikel Folch (Cuba) 0.00 ERA (14.0 innings)

Miguel Alfredo González 0.00 ERA (11.0 innings)

Michiel van Kampen (Netherlands) .000 ERA (7.1 innings)Chen-Hua Lin (Chinese Taipei) 0.00 ERA (7.0 innings)Diegomar Markwell (Netherlands) 0.57 ERA (15.2 innings)Ryota Takayama (Japan) 1.04 (8.2 innings)Ching-Ming Wang (Chinese Taipei) 1.13 ERA 8.0 innings)
Yadier Pedroso (Cuba) 1.29 ERA (7.0 innings)Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 1.33 ERA (20.1 innings)
Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 1.50 ERA (12.0 innings)

Pitching Leaders (End of Round Robin Games)

Wins-Losses: Miguel Alfredo González (Cuba) 2-0

Wins-Losses: Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 2-0

Wins-Losses: Rob Cordemans (Netherlands) 2-0

ERA Pct.: Maikel Folch (Cuba) 0.00 (14.0 innings)

Innings Pitched: Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 20.1

Opponents Batting Average: Miguel Alfredo González (Cuba) .083

Game Appearances: Chen-Hua Lin (Chinese Taipei) 5

Games Started: Chih-Lung Huang (Chinese Taipei) 3

Strikeouts: Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 16

Strikeouts (per 9 innings): Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 12.0

Walks: Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 11

Shutouts: Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 1

Complete Games: Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 2

Note: USA Baseball (fourth-place finisher at Rotterdam in 2007) was invited to this year's event but elected not to send an American team.

Pinar Outfielder Jorge Padrón Earns Rare Footnote in National Team Annals

2009-07-12T03:08:40Z

Cuba lost its undefeated record on the final day of World Port Tournament pool play (dropping a 2-1 decision to last-place Japan) and the host Dutch rallied for a 6-5 victory over Taiwan and a place in Sunday's championship finals. Miguel Alfredo González (Cuba's post-season National Series MVP) and veteran Diegomar Markwell (Andruw Jones's cousin) will square off in Sunday afternoon's gold medal match.

But the big story of the day in the Cuban camp was yet another oddity of the type that so often mark the island sport. Cuban manager Roger Machado, attempting to conserve pitchers for the all-important finale, made a surprise pitching move on Saturday that sent Cuba League aficionados scrambling for the record books.

The surprise moment of the week came with a most unorthodox maneuver by manager Machado in the ninth inning. Not wishing to burn up any more of his pitchers on the eve of the finale and also opting not to wear down middle-relief specialist Lahera, Machado inserted Pinar del Río outfielder Jorge Padrón to work the ninth frame. Outfielders and infielders have been occasionally used on the hill at all levels of baseball by managers hoping to rest exhausted bullpens in lost games (especially where the run differential might be 15 or 20 runs). This has happened from time to time even in the majors. But it is hard to recall any bench boss anywhere who has ever asked a totally untested position player (that is, one who has never before pitched to a single batter) to debut on the mound at the crucial juncture of a ninth-inning tie game. Padrón (who batted .345 this past season and enjoyed one 6-for-6 game during National Series #48) certainly met the new challenge in grand style. The unpracticed lefty yielded a harmless single to only the second batter he faced and also walked yet another batsman, but nonetheless escaped the inning without yielding a single tally.

The ninth-inning oddity wrote yet another strange chapter in Cuba's always colorful baseball saga. Preliminary research indicates that Padrón is the first Cuban ballplayer since the debut of National Series play back in 1962 ever to take the mound for a Cuban national team in international tournament action without having tossed a single inning in regular Cuban League domestic action. This author and several colleagues from the Cuban journalist corps are currently pouring over national team records in an effort to uncover a single similar case.

Cuban League DH Wins "Gold Glove" as an Outfielder!

2009-07-10T20:32:59Z

Below is the complete summary of National Series #48 (2008-2009) Cuban League All-Star voting and individual post-season awards. Three rare oddities should be noted in the balloting. First and foremost is the fact that Rafael Orta (Habana Province, pictured here ) was selected as one of the Gold Glove Outfield choices, even though Orta was employed for almost the entire season as team DH (frequently drawing comments in this role, since he batted cleanup and yet completed the entire regular season without a single home run). Given the fact that Orta is so widely considered one of the league's best fly chasers, and also given his lack of offensive punch in the DH role, one has to question why he was used in that latter capacity. Nonetheless it is difficult to second guess manager-of-the-year Esteban Lombillo's decision on this count, since Orta was one of the post-season offensive heroes and Lombillo's team did capture the league championship.

A second intriguing observation is the fact that Sancti Spíritus stalwart third baseman Yulieski Gourriel was the only individual to appear on both the league all-star team and the all-defensive team selections (tying for the latter honor). And finally there is the issue of Alfredo Despaigne's easy victory as league MVP. Here the same question must be raised that always comes up when discussing major league MVP balloting. Despaigne unquestionably enjoyed one of the great offensive seasons in Cuban league annals, establishing a new league home run mark. Undoubtedly the Granma outfielder was "player of the year" by any measure. But how "valuable" was he to his last-place team? It is a safe bet indeed that Granma would have finished 30 or more games off the pace and failed to make the playoffs even without Despaigne on their roster. Should not the MVP award go to a player whose presence dramatically improved or contributed to team performance?

Most Valuable Player: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma)

First: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma) 76 points (21 first place votes)

Second: Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus) 49 points (2 first place votes)

Third: Michel Enríquez (Isla de la Juventud) 36 points (4 first place votes)

Rookie of the Year: Michel Gorgüet (Guantánamo)

First: Michel Gorgüet (Guantánamo) 75 points (21 first place votes)

Second: Denis Laza (Habana Province) 34 points (3 first place votes)

Third: Wilfredo Aroche (Metros) 31 points (3 first place votes)

Manager of the Year: Esteban Lombillo (Habana Province)

First: Esteban Lombillo (Habana Province) 28 votes

Second: Eduardo Martin (Villa Clara)

Third: Roger Machado (Ciego de Avila)

MVP (Post-Season): Miguel Alfredo González (Habana Province)

Unanimous Selection

Rookie of the Year (Post Season): Dennis Laza (Habana Province)

First: Denis Laza (Habana Province) 28 votes

Second: Ramon Lunar (Villa Clara)

National Series #48 League All-Star Team

Catcher: Rolando Meriño (Santiago de Cuba) 27 votes

First Base: Yoelvis Charles (Ciego de Avila) 22 votes

Second Base: Yoilan Cerce (Guantánamo) 20 votes

Third base: Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus) 22 votes

Shortstop: Alex Guerrero (Las Tunas) 16 votes

Outfielder: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma) Unanimous

Outfielder: Giorvis Duvergel (Guantánamo) 27 votes

Outfielder: Yoennis Céspedes (Granma) 16 votes

DH: Lerys Aguilera (Holguín) 20 votes

Utility: Leonys Martin (Villa Clara) 10 votes

RHP: Yunieski Maya (Pinar del Río) 21 votes

LHP: Maikel Folch (Ciego de Avila) 26 votes

Relief Pitcher: Vladimir García (Ciego de Avila) 32 votes

All-Defensive Team (Gold Glove Winners)

Catcher: Yaimel Alberro (Matanzas) 24 votes

First Base: Leslie Anderson (Camagüey) 16 votes

Second Base: Mario Vega (Ciego de Avila) 27 votes

Third Base (Tie): Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus) 13 votes

Third Base (Tie): Marino Luis (Cienfuegos) 13 votes

Shortstop: Yorbis Borroto (Ciego de Avila) 22 votes

Outfielder: Juan Carlos Linares (Habana Province) 24 votes

Outfielder: Alexei Bell (Santiago de Cuba) 23 votes

Outfielder: Rafael Orta (Habana Province) 16 votes

Pitcher: Wilbert Pérez (Isla de la Juventud) 22 votes

Cuban League All-Stars Paced by Unanimous Choice of Alfredo Despaigne

2009-07-09T01:29:44Z

Earlier I reported my personal ballot for the National Series #48 (2008-2009) Cuban League All-Star team. Below are the just-released final results of the recent Cuban media poll for this season's league all-star squad. A total of 33 votes were cast (31 island journalists plus USA-based correspondents Peter C. Bjarkman and Ray Otero of www.basebbaldecuba.com). The only unanimous choice for the mythical team was Granma outfielder Alfredo Despaigne, this season's home run and RBI leader. The second highest vote getter was Ciego de Avila closer (relief pitcher) Vladimir Garcia. The named selections are as follows:

Photo-Alfredo Despaigne (Granma)

Catcher- Roland Merino (Santiago de Cuba) 27 votes

Frist Base- Yorelvis Charles (Ciego de Avila) 22 votes

Second Base- Yoilan Cerce (Guatanamo) 20 votes

Third Base- Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spiritus) 22 votes

Shortstop- Alexander Guerrero (Las Tunas) 16 votes

Outfield- Alfredo Despaigne (Granma) 33 votes

Outfield- Giorvis Duvergel (Guantanamo) 27 votes)

Outfield- Yoennis Cespedes (Granma) 16 votes

Designated Hitter- Lerys Aguilera (Holguin) 20 votes

Utility Player- Leonys Martin (Villa Clara) 10 votes

RHP- Yunieski Maya (Pinar del Rio) 21 votes

LHP- Maikel Folch (Ciego de Avila) 26 votes)

Reliever- Vladimir Garcia (Ciego de Avila) 32 votes

An interesting footnote here is the fact that Holguin southpaw Aroldis Chapman does not appear on this listing of popular press choices. Does this perhaps speak volumes about the true prospects of the recent defector labeled this past week by many in the North American press as "the best left handed prospect on the planet"?

Lourdes Gourriel Returns as Sancti Spiritus Manager

2009-07-07T15:09:58Z

Smack in the midst of the Rotterdam World Port Tournament, a major story has broken in Havana this weekend with the announcement that Lourdes Gourriel will return to his old post as manager of the Sancti Spíritus Gallos for the coming National Series season. One of the island's biggest offensive stars for two decades (1976-1996), Gourriel previously managed the Gallos (Roosters) for seven seasons (NS#40 through NS#46) before giving way in 2007 to Pinar del Río catching great Juan Castro. Gourriel's previous managerial reign (381 wins and 295 losses) featured six straight winning seasons and a surprising 2002 appearance in the National Series post-season finals. Since relinquishing the bench post in his native province, Gourriel has served the past two seasons as manager of the Bóer Indians in the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League.

Gourriel enjoyed considerable island fame as a slugging outfielder during 20 Cuban League seasons (20 National Series, 19 Selective Series, and one Revolutionary Cup campaign), posting a .323 career batting average, amassing 2,026 lifetime base hits (number 13 all-time in island annals), and slugging 247 career homers (still the Sancti Spíritus team record). With Team Cuba the towering right-hander batted .413 in six World Cup appearances (65 games), .364 in eight Intercontinental Cup Tournaments, and .410 in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. His numerous clutch base hits in important international tournament matches earned such colorful island nicknames as "Hombre de los Grandes Momentos" and "Héroe de Parma" among others. His most memorable outings on an international stage included a gold medal game-winning hit versus Team USA at the 1980 Tokyo World Cup, plus as a towering MVP performance in the 1989 Intercontinental Cup in Puerto Rico (where he also homered and knocked in four runs in the title game versus the Japanese).

Lourdes Gourriel will be now rejoining the team on which his son Yulieski is a star performer at third base and a second son, Yunieski, patrols central field. It is a ball club known for its potent offense built around national team standout Yulieski and additional sluggers Frederich Cepeda, Elier Sánchez, Liván Monteagudo and Yenier Bello. In their first campaign under Gourriel's replacement, Juan Castro, the Gallos lost a thrilling seven-game post-season semifinal series to eventual league runner-up Pinar del Río; this past spring the slow-starting club rallied to another playoff appearance after the World Baseball Classic mid-season interruption, but then collapsed against the same Pinar club in a brief five-game opening quarterfinal round.

Gourriel was quick to tell a Prensa Latina correspondent in Havana yesterday that his biggest challenge will be replenishing his ball club's weak pitching, which proved to be this past season's playoff Achilles' heel. "We will have to search for an injection of youngsters in the province with strong arms," Gourriel candidly observed. "It is indispensable to elevate the training of our pitchers, but the rest of the club is among the best on the island." If anything can turn around the lackluster fortunes of the recently underachieving Gallos during the coming National Series season it is most likely to be the veteran hand of one of the islands most notable baseball figures, Lourdes Gourriel.

Aroldis Chapman Departure Not Likely to Impact Team Cuba's September World Cup Plans

2009-07-04T18:28:40Z

The visit by Cuba's "second string" national team to this year's Rotterdam World Port Tournament in The Netherlands grapped attention this week for the news that southpaw phenom Aroldis Chapman had abandon the Cuban contingent on the eve of last Thursday's opening contest with the host Netherlands. While Chapman has drawn the attention of MLB scouts for his blazing fastball (once clocked at 102-mph earlier this season in National Series play), his record in Cuba has been spotty and he pitched himself off of last summer Beijing Olympic squad with consistent subpar performances during the June José Huelga Tournament in Havana. While Chapman may have a bright pro future, he was pencilled in as the number four starter (behind Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, lefty Maikel Folch, and 20-year-old Freddy Asiel Alvarez) on the current Cuba B squad. His departure therefore may well have little impact on Cuba's national team plans for the upcoming September IBAF World Cup tournament in Europe.

The below three paragraphs touching on Chapman's "defection" are lifted from my recent www.baseballdecuba.com WPT report filed yesterday on the tournament's opening two days (in which Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez and Maikel Folch both pitched brilliantly in consecutive shutouts of The Netherlands and Japan). For the full story and continued Rotterdam coverage see our tournament webpage at http://www.baseballdecuba.com/rotterdam2009.asp.

This year's visit to Rotterdam would seemingly not contain the same exacting demands of last year's Haarlem Olympic tune-up. It is true enough that there will be enormous pressures on the Cuban World Cup squad in September to atone for a series of recent disappointments (the second-place finishes at the 2007 Taiwan World Cup and 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the failure to reach the final round at this spring's second edition of MLB's World Baseball Classic). But this is not at all the same ball club that the Cuban Federation will field come September, and the island's World Cup hopes are in no way hanging on the performances of this month's Rotterdam contingent. Nonetheless things did not start out well this week in The Netherlands, with one major setback coming before Machado's club even had a chance to take the field. On the eve of the opening game there was already a major disruption in the form of the unexpected "defection" of star pitcher Aroldis Chapman from the Cuban camp. Long coveted by major league scouts for his limber portside arm and touted 100-mph fastball, Chapman decided to make a break for the seeming Promised Land of untold big league riches. The blow was probably more psychological than strategic, since it is not at all apparent at this point in time just how seriously Chapman figured in Cuba's September World Cup plans.

Chapman remains a considerable mystery and his future in North American professional baseball is not easy to predict. The 21-year-old Holguín lefty has opted to trade potential gold medals for designer golden neck bracelets and a huge bank account--that much is certain. But will he become the next José Contreras or the next Maels Rodríguez? Contreras, of course, had accomplished far more in both international and domestic play by the time he abandoned the island back in 2003 while touring in Mexico. Rodríguez broke every imaginable strikeout record on the island before suffering an unfortunate arm injury that ruined his pro prospects even before his own departure later that same year. Chapman definitely has his negatives, foremost among them a demonstrated lack of strike-zone control, a one-pitch arsenal, and an inconsistent Cuban League performance over four National Series campaigns. Hurling for a Holguín club that made this year's post-season and has been largely a middle-of-the-pack outfit during Chapman's tenure, the southpaw flame thrower has won only slightly more than half his decisions (24-21), though he did enjoy his best season (11-4 and a league-best 130 Ks in 118 innings) this past winter. He has twice topped the 100 K mark but never approached Maels's record-setting standards. Chapman is definitely more a raw "thrower" than a savvy "pitcher" and numerous questions surround his abilities to master the finer details of his craft. But Aroldis Chapman has definitely already displayed one easily definable characteristic of a true major leaguer: by abandoning his teammates on the eve of an important international tournament (and thus leaving the squad short of starting pitchers) he has dramatically signaled that personal career advancement for him far outweighs any ball club loyalties. He is only the most recent poster child for rampant baseball free agency.

Chapman's record--more so than that of Maels Rodríguez a few years back--was largely one of brief moments of brilliant potential rather than one of any truly noteworthy record-book feats. Chapman enjoyed one great game in international play as a 19-year-old (during the 2007 World Cup semifinals versus Japan) but never quite returned to that stellar form. His Cuban League record had some noteworthy features (379 Ks in 341 innings) but was on the whole disappointing (210 walks over the same span, only one career shutout, a lofty 3.72 ERA, an 0-2 post-season record, only one winning season in four tries). Chapman pitched badly enough in last summer's José Huelga Tournament in Havana to play himself off the Cuban Olympic roster, and while his fastball drew attention in two outings at the recent WBC, he was hardly dominant against either the Australians or the Japanese. The bottom line is that Chapman has great potential and could well end up in a major league uniform. Certainly he will hold up some big league franchise for millions in signing bonuses and thus enrich both himself and some opportunistic player agent. But the jury is still out (and likely will be until at least September) regarding how badly this departure might actually damage Cuban national team prospects. The full impact of Chapman's loss is especially open to question given what has transpired on the playing field at Neptunus Family Stadium in slightly more than 48 hours since his departure.

My Cuban League National Series #48 All-Star Ballot

2009-06-17T18:48:28Z

I have the honor of being one of only two journalists outside of the island of Cuba to cast an official ballot (one of 30 total ballots) in selecting the year-end Cuban League all-stars, plus MVP and ROY selections. The other non-Cuban resident invited to vote in the official Cuban press poll is my colleague Ray Otero at www.baseballdecuba.com. Below is the ballot I cast in this year's post-season elections.

Yadier Pedroso (Habana Provice), National Series #48 ERA champion, is Bjarkman's choice for 2009 Cuban League Most Valuable Player

Cuban League 2009 All-Star Selections

Catcher: Rolando Meriño (Santiago de Cuba)

First Base: Leslie Anderson (Camagüey)

Second Base: Yolian Cercé (Guantánamo)

Third Base: Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus)

Shortstop: Aledmis Díaz (Villa Clara)

Outfielder: Frederich Cepeda (Sancti Spíritus)

Outfielder: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma)

Outfielder: Yoennis Céspedes (Granma)

DH: Yenier Bello (Sancti Spíritus)

Utility Man: Yoandy Galobo (Matanzas)

Pitcher (Right Hander): Yunieski Maya (Pinar del Río)

Pitcher (Left Hander): Maikel Folich (Ciego de Avila)

Pitcher (Reliever): Vladimir García (Ciego de Avila)

Cuba League 2009 All-Defensive Team (Golden Gloves)

Catcher: Rolando Meriño (Santiago de Cuba)

First Base: Leslie Anderson (Camagüey)

Second Base: Mario Vega (Ciego de Avila)

Third Base: Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus)

Shortstop: Yorbis Borroto (Ciego de Avila)

Outfielder: Ruby Silva (Habana Province)

Outfielder: Jorge Padrón (Pinar del Río)

Outfielder: Leonys Martin (Villa Clara)

Pitcher: Ismel Jiménez (Sancti Spíritus)

Rookie of the Year (Top Three Selections)

First Place (3 points): Dennis Laza (OF) (Habana Province)

Second Place (2 points): Ramon Lunar (OF) (Villa Clara)

Third Place (1 point): Aledmis Díaz (SS) (Villa Clara)

Most Valuable Player (Top Three Selections)

First Place (3 points): Yadier Pedroso (P) (Habana Province)

Second Place (2 points): Yorelvis Charles (IF) (Ciego de Avila)

Third Place (1 point): Yulieski Gourriel (IF) (Sancti Spíritus)

Post-Season MVP and ROY (2009 Playoffs)

Most Valuable Player: Miguel Alfredo González (P) (Habana Province)

Top Rookie: Ramon Lunar(OF) (Villa Clara)

Manager of the Year

Esteban Lombillo (Habana Province)

Habana Province Captures First-Ever Cuban Pennant

2009-06-09T14:52:00Z

Cuba's 48th National Series has now culminated with a maiden championship for the Habana Province Cowboys, only the second time (the others being 1983 and 2002) in a quarter-century when a first-time-ever champion has been crowned. Habana rode the league's best pitching (Miguel Alfredo González, Yadier Pedroso, Yulieski González, Jonder Martínez and Miguel Lahera) to a five-game triumph over upstart Villa Clara in the championship finals. The month-long post-season festival included numerous surprises and a healthy dose of rather bizarre twists and turns of the kind that make the Cuban League baseball's most exciting and entertaining venue. But the most surprsing element of all perhaps was the fact that none of the headline stars of 2009's post-season action were players who had participated on Cuba's talented World Baseball Classic roster last March. A strong signal has again been sent that Cuban baseball is constantly renewing its seemingly inexhaustible talent supply.

For a complete summary of this year's Cuban League post-season action, see my full on-the-scene report at http://www.baseballdecuba.com/newsContainer.asp?id=1657.

In Cuban Playoffs It's Not "How Many?" But "When?"

2009-06-04T03:03:35Z

Who might be Cuba's best clean-up slugger? Or in a similar vein, who might be the most productive designated hitter on the island? Is it Granma's 22-year-old Alfredo Despaigne, who this season rewrote the league home run record book? Or would it still be Santiago's Alexei Bell, who in 2008 enjoyed the greatest single slugging campaign on record with 31 round-trippers and 111 runs batted home? Or would you vote for Sancti Spíritus hero Yulieski Gourriel, who missed a NS #48 batting title (and a rarely achieved .400 mark) by mere percentage points, while at the same time also clubbing 22 homers and driving home 90 runners in an equal number of games? Or maybe we should even consider Yoelvis Fiss who mans the post for surprising Ciego de Avila; Fiss knocked home 72 runners this winter for the league's winningest ball club. Perhaps a vote could even be cast for Las Tunas slugger Joan Carlos Pedroso, the only island muscleman to amass 200-plus homers during the current decade of wooden bat baseball.

The choices in this debate may be numerous, but there is one current Cuban League regular at both positions who would almost certainly not be a serious candidate for the hypothetical honor. Habana Province's Rafael Orta is in fact one of the most unusual--read here "unproductive"--middle-line-up hitters to ever occupy the clean-up role, in Cuba or in any other top-level professional circuit. Orta has been so unproductive by any standard yardstick applied to the number four batting slot that one teammate recently equaled his two-year long-ball output in a single post-season inning. Entering this year's playoffs the right-handed swinging Orta had socked exactly one homer in two full seasons--that is, in nearly 200 ball games. He did hit at a .336 clip for the current National Series, and he did bring home a club third-best 57 runners; yet his RBI production was only a bit more than half that of the league leaders in this department. Orta's failure to club a single homer in the 90-game campaign has had many in Cuba wondering just what manager Esteban Lombillo has in mind by leaving this light-weight swinger in the traditional power-hitter's lineup slot.

But baseball annals are of course jammed full with unlikely post-season batting and pitching heroes. There is something about championship play that brings out the best in some otherwise altogether middle-of-the-road performers. Or is it perhaps the mere fact that opponents always concentrate defensive efforts on the opponent's "big guns" and sometimes in the process open the door to lesser performers, who are not always approached with the same level of pitching intensity. At any rate, big league World Series play has its long list of "one-time wonders" who have managed to overreach the expected profile of mere role player. Some memorable New Yorkers of the mid-fifties come quickly to mind.

Take the case of New York Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, for example. Richardson once posted World Series batting numbers that made him seem like Mickey Mantle or Yogi Berra in disguise. Known for his golden glove and not his light bat, Richardson miraculously exploded for 11 base knocks and a dozen RBIs during a 1960 World Series match-up with the Pittsburgh Pirates; the unaccountable explosion included a then post-season record six RBIs in Game 3 of that memorable Fall Classic.

A dozen seasons earlier Giants part-time outfielder Dusty Rhodes turned the 1954 Series versus Cleveland into his own career highlight film with two game-winning homers. Rhodes became a lasting World Series long-ball legend after socking only fifteen total round trippers that very same summer. And there was also, of course, the unprecedented 1956 Series feat of Yankees pitcher Don Larsen. A career-long losing pitcher, Larsen somehow managed to produce the only World Series no-hitter on record (a perfect game at that!) by mesmerizing the potent Brooklyn Dodgers. Lightening strikes in the oddest places.

Following the Bobby Richardson formula for post-season transformation, Rafael Orta has spent the past two weeks completely overhauling his image at precisely the most opportune moments. By doing so Orta has been underscoring another old baseball adage, one which says that is it not always the quantity of big hits that means the most, but rather the quality of a batter's crushing blows. Quality here of course refers to dramatic timing and an uncanny sense of the most advantageous moments for overachievement. In the process Rafael Orta has also been writing his name (in the same fashion as past-era big leaguers Dusty Rhodes and Bobby Richardson) indelibly in the quarter-century-long annals of modern-era Cuban League post-season baseball.

Orta's marvelous run of productivity began precisely when it was likely to have the maximum impact--the final crucial games of the championship semifinals series versus Pinar del Río. In Game 4 of the Pinar series (the contest always to be remembered for Danger Guerrero's apparent three-run homer that was erroneously ruled a "ground-rule out") it was Orta who would prove the ultimate savior as Habana Province earned a vital series-knotting triumph. The margin of victory was a tie-busting 4-run uprising in the top of the ninth that was highlighted by Rafael Orta's booming two-run triple. That was only the beginning.

Game 6 in San José closed out the semifinal round with a dramatic 11-inning 3-2 Cowboys win that lifted Lombillo's ball club into the league championship finals for only the second time in team history. In that see-saw match Orta stroked a run-producing single in the home half of the seventh which looked at the moment like the game-winning and series-clinching base knock. Fate was not quite so kind to the star-struck Orta this time around, since the game was later again tied, and then eventually won in overtime on a bizarre walk-off wild pitch. But Orta hit did produce the tally that allowed his club to survive into extra frames and thus to steal eventual eleventh-inning victory. Orta's hit was definitely the biggest of the deciding game and thus one of the biggest of the entire marathon season.

But Orta still seemed to be only warming up. The best would be saved for the year's final and most important encounters in the playoff finale with Villa Clara's Orangemen, surprise survivors after a third-place finish in the Oriental League half of the circuit. In the opener in San José, a near-perfect six-inning pitching performance by lefty starter Yulieski González (and a 3-0 Habana lead as a consequence) seemed in danger of being wasted when Villa Clara rallied for two in the eighth and one in the ninth to knot the match. After Ruby Silva doubled in the home half of the final frame, manager Eduardo Martin elected to intentionally pass the dangerous Ernesto Molinet (who had socked a record two homers in a single inning during the quarterfinals) in order to get at Rafael Orta. It seemed a wise move with but one out and the winning tally perched on second. Orta--still homer-less, but already now on a post-season tear--promptly laced a high fastball from ace reliever Yolexis Ulacia into center field for the game winner.

And the biggest blow of all still lurked just around the corner. After a 102-game home run drought stretching the full length of National Series #48 (90 regular season games and a dozen more in the playoffs) Rafael Orta's bat finally cracked out a long opposite-field fly that cleared the fence in deepest right center and gave his club a most-timely 5-2 advance in the home eight. The surprise power display came off an errant delivery from the same Yolexis Ulacia who had been victimized by Orta a day earlier. Villa Clara would cut the count to a single digit with a two-run rally in the top of the ninth, yet fall just short of the needed tie. The year's first homer by Habana's unlikely DH thus provided the ultimate margin of victory in a game that left the Cowboys clearly in the championship driver's seat. Orta's long-awaited blast in Game 2 will not likely retain an indelible spot in any list of the most memorable single moments of island playoff history. But it may just have been the biggest blow ever struck in Habana Province's own rather checkered ball club saga.

The recent performance by Orta underscores the unpredictability which is both baseball's biggest charm and also the sport's strongest magnet. A Cuban journalist friend once told me that he didn't attend many ballgames at Latin American Stadium because he only selected out the best games on the schedule to visit. A nice trick, requiring I would image some rare kind of occult powers. For in baseball more than any other sport, any day at the park might easily produce either the dullest of spectacles or the rarest moments of pure entertainment. And there is absolutely no way of ever predicting which it might be. Any game can produce a moment to be cherished or an event never before witnessed--like last week's Danger Guerrero "home run that wasn't" in Pinar's Captain San Luis Stadium. There are always novel surprises unfolding on the baseball diamond.

For two years Rafael Orta has remained hidden in the shadows on one of the Cuban League's strongest teams. It was not that he was merely overshadowed by a host of other top sluggers, given that Habana has survived mostly on its pitching, while owning one of the island's weakest offensive punches. When he finally did gain some fan attention near season's end, it was seemingly always to ridicule the historic failure to strike a single home run from the traditional clean-up slot. But now it is likely that everyone will instead remember the single fence-clearing blast he eventually did stroke. It is precisely such stuff that baseball dreams are made of.

So we might now return to the question with which we began: who is currently Cuba's best clean-up hitter? Most would still opt for Despaigne, or perhaps Gourriel, Bell or even Pedroso. But Lombillo and the now-charged-up Habana Province fans can not be entirely displeased with their own entry in the contest. There is something to be said for timeliness. Baseball is a game of numbers and thus statistics are a significant part of the sport's storyline. But the numbers don't always tell the whole story. How valuable are Despaigne's 32 homers for a ball club that finished in the league basement? Branch Rickey, general manager of the cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates of the early 1950s, once handed out a pay cut to slugger Ralph Kiner, after Kiner had just claimed the league home run crown with 51 dingers. Rickey simply reminded the future hall-of-famer that the club could finish last just as easily with or without the slugger's 50-plus homers.

Do you want a clean-up slugger who produces bunches of extra base hits in a losing cause, yet fails the deliver under pressure-packed scenarios? This, of course, has often been the rap against Pedroso, who belts long-balls in Las Tunas with a tail ender ball club but fails time and again in international trials with Team Cuba. At least over the last couple of weeks, many I imagine would have preferred to see the timely if not intimidating Rafael Orta standing at the heart of the order, especially with the championship season hanging in the balance.