Cuba announces its first players from foreign leagues to attend the World Baseball Classic

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 14 (ACN) The Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) announced today the summoning of the first three players from the island who are playing in foreign leagues, to be part of the national pre-selection for the 5th World Baseball Classic.

"We are pleased to announce that Andy Ibanez (Texas Ranger), Yoan Lopez (New York Mets) and Elian Leyva (Naranjeros de Hermosillo) will be part of Cuba's pre-selection for the 5th World Baseball Classic," the entity said on Twitter.

Then, a second message said that "as we announced a few weeks ago, we continue working on the formation of the group of athletes for the 5th World Baseball Classic, where we will have stars of our Elite League and others who play in international circuits".

The FCB denounced in the last few days the harassment, aggressions and fake news that have been spreading around the process through which it is forming its roster for the important international event.

It has been holding talks for months with Major League Baseball to ensure its presence in the so-called "spring classic".

The Cuban entity has confirmed exchanges with a list of athletes of interest and will inform in a timely manner about the results of the same, having their agreement to do so.

Cuba will debut at the 5th Classic on March 8 against the Netherlands. It will then face Italy (9), Panama (10) and the host of that key A, Taiwan (12). The Taichung Stadium, in the city of Taipei, will be the venue for these actions.