Close to 20 Cuban baseball players to foreign leagues

HAVANA, Cuba, May 9 (acn) A few days ago it was made official the hiring of several Cuban baseball players to play abroad.

Most of them will be enrolled in the Can-Am League, specifically in the Quebec Capitales, team which hire pitcher Lazaro Blanco and infielders Yurisbel Gracial and Yordan Manduley.
The also pitcher Miguel Lahera and shortstop Alexander Ayala will play with the Trois-Rivieres Aigles, club belonging to the same circuit.
Meanwhile, pitchers Ian Rendon and Noelvis Entenza, catcher Yulexis La Rosa and SS Yorbis Borroto signed for the Kitchener Panthers of the Intercounty Baseball League (IBL), also in Canada.
On the other hand, Cuban slugger Alfredo Despaigne shines with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB), tournament in which are also playing P Raidel Martinez and OF Leonardo Urgelles (Chunichi Dragons), but in the second division so far.
Despaigne is already highlighting due to his eight home runs and 25 RBIs, numbers that rank him second and first in each department, in that order.
Cuban pitchers Alberto Bicet (SSD Bollate BC 1959), Wilber Perez (Paterno Red Sox ASD) and Frank Monthiet (Bologna Athletics) are playing in Italy and this total shows a significant increase in comparison with the previous year which should represent higher quality for the national baseball.
Bicet has had so far the best Cuban performance in the European nation, as he has balance of three wins and no loss with 32 strikeouts in 21 innings and ERA of 0.43.
It is expected lefty pitcher Livan Moinello, 22, and young infielder, outfielder and pitcher Oscar Luis Colas, who is only 18, to sign contracts today with the NPB.
Our intention is to grow more, reiterated Higinio Velez, president of the Cuban Baseball Federation.