The team of the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation (FEPCUBE) which will participate between January 25 and February 1, 2024 in the next Intercontinental Baseball Series in Colombia, already has a management team with experience at the Major League level.
The Cuban team that will travel to Barranquilla will have Brayan Peña as manager and will have Euclides Rojas (bank coach); Barbarian Garbey (coach of 3B); Jorge Luis Toca (1B coach) and Michael Tejera (pitching coach).
Also there will be Jose Ariel Contreras (pitching coach); Jose “Nachi” Castro (hitting coach) and Yuniesky Gurriel (hitting coach), as announced this Thursday on social networks by journalist Yordano Carmona.
“I want to express my gratitude to Orlando Hernández, our general manager, for his trust in me. “We have an outstanding group of coaches in whom we place our faith and trust, and we are committed to working hard together to play the best possible role,” said Peña in statements reported by the sports portal. Cuban ball USA.
“As you can see, we have highly respected figures, like José Ariel Contreras, who represents a lot for our baseball, and others like Gurriel, who has helped numerous players,” added Peña, who said that he fully trusts them.
He assured that As a manager, he will learn a lot from them because they are exceptional individuals who will bring the best to the team.
Orlando “El Duque” Hernández joins the list, who had already been announced as general manager.
Although some Major League stars will not be able to join the team due to prior commitments, Peña already has the support of several players, including Aroldis Chapman.
At the beginning of this week, the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation announced that its team, made up of Cuban baseball players based in the United States and the rest of the world, will carry in its name the phrase “Patria y Vida”become a symbol for the freedom of Cuba.
The announcement was made by Mandy Llanes Jr., president of FEPCUBE, who explained that those two words – which will appear on the players’ uniforms – symbolize the desire for freedom and democracy that Cubans share and that they represent the team’s commitment to a free Cuba.
The team’s participation in the Intercontinental Baseball Series – formerly the Latin American Series – has generated expectations as it is the first time that a team without ties to the state-run Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) participates in an international tournament.
Teams from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico and Colombia, the host country, are expected to participate in the Continental Series.
The Latin American Baseball Series emerged in 2012 and the first edition was held in 2013. The founders were Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama. In none of the previous editions did a Cuban team participate, so the FEPCUBE team will be the first to represent the island in the contest. The event was last held in 2019.
