International scouts check out Cuban players for foreign leagues

Havana, Sept 11 (EFE).- The Cuban baseball team selected for the Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile, as well as the under-18 and under-23 teams, showed off their skills Monday to scouts from South Korea, Japan, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

The players took part in a series of skills tests, followed by a friendly match at the Latin American Stadium in Havana, according to sports officials.

The activities will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday with a confrontation between the Alazanes de Granma, a local league team that will represent Cuba in the Baseball Champions League against Mexico at the end of the month.

In statements to EFE, Ricardo Eizmendiz, technical director of the National Baseball Commission, assured that it is the first time that so many foreign scouts are in Cuba at the same time to monitor the island’s players.

Eizmendiz also emphasized that the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) has the intention of holding this event once a year on the same dates.

Fernando Seguignol, scout for the Seibu Lions of the Japanese league, told EFE that his purpose “is to formalize the relationship so that in the not too distant future we have powerful players who can help us”.

“If one or two of these guys have the opportunity to play abroad with an Asian team and return here, it would be a good encouragement,” he concluded.

In addition to the scouts from Japan and Korea, a representative from the Luis Consuegra Academy in the Dominican Republic is also attending the trials.

According to specialist journalist Francys Romero, author of The Dream and the Reality: Stories of the Emigration of Cuban Baseball (1960-2018), the “FCB is seeking” that “academies like Consuegra” “take players between 18 and 20 years old and, if they are not able to sign with an MLB organization (US Major Leagues), move them to Caribbean leagues.” EFE

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