HAVANA — The White Sox’ Yoán Moncada and Luis Robert are among the players signed with Major League Baseball organizations and other foreign clubs who will for the first time join domestic stars on the Cuban national team, officials announced Wednesday evening. The team will play in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
The Cuban Baseball Federation long defended the idea of amateurism and punished those who left the island to seek their fortunes in professional baseball.
But that changed when a program on state television announced the roster of 30 players for Cuba’s national team that will play in the international tournament that begins March 8 in Taiwan.
In addition to third baseman Moncada and center fielder Robert, three players from Triple-A rosters were selected: infielder Andy Ibáñez of the Detroit Tigers’ Toledo Mud Hens, right-hander Miguel Romero of the Oakland Athletics’ Las Vegas Aviators and right-hander Ronald Bolaños of the Kansas City Royals’ Omaha Storm Chasers.
Moncada and Robert will be absent from parts of spring training to participate.
“In the end, we all want what’s best for Major League Baseball,” general manager Rick Hahn said this month. “We’ve all seen the excitement and the energy, the attention that brings to baseball from the World Baseball Classic. So we all support it.”
New manager Pedro Grifol views the players’ participation as motivators for them to arrive at camp in good shape and a good experience playing under pressure.
“Selfishly, in a manager’s first year, you don’t love the idea of him having full-time access — or primarily a new coaching staff having full-time access for those six, seven weeks,” Hahn said. “But in the end, the more important thing is the advancement of the game on a global basis, and we will obviously play our part in whatever we need to do to help. It’s a nice testament to the organization that we do have so many players who are participating.”
Eloy Jimenez is playing for the Dominican Republic and Tim Anderson and Lance Lynn for the U.S.
“Only two of [the teams] can go all the way, so we’ll get some guys back over the course of the first few weeks and just meet that challenge accordingly,” Hahn said.
Also on the team will be former New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Céspedes, a 37-year-old two-time All-Star who last played in the major leagues in 2018.
Two Cubans who play in Japan were picked, outfielder Yurisbel Gracial of the Pacific League’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and catcher Ariel Martínez of the Central League’s Chunichi Dragons.
To arrange participation of the MLB players, Cuba had to get special permission from the United States because Washington maintains sanctions on Cuba. Under the agreement, those players are barred from coming to Cuba to work with the team.
Baseball is the national sport in Cuba but economic difficulties, the philosophy of restricting the movement of athletes and the temptations of professional contracts abroad has decimated the game on the island.
Contributing: Daryl Van Schouwen
