Jose Oquendo To Manage Puerto Rico At 2009 World Baseball Classic

PUERTO RICO - Former major leaguer Jose ” Cheíto” Oquendo has been tapped to guide Puerto Rico at the 2009 World Baseball Classic this coming March.

Oquendo steered the Puerto Rican squad to the second round of the inaugural Classic which has quickly emerged as the premier international baseball tournament. Puerto Rico was eliminated in a lopsided loss to Cuba which lost to Japan in the championship game.

Oquendo, who manages the the Carolina Giants in the Puerto Rican Winter League, admitted that it is an honor to return as coach for the Puerto Rican National Team.

“I am anxious to begin to work so that Puerto Rico can reach the second round” , Oquendo said, who played in the big league with the St. Louis Cardinals and is currently their third base coach.

The Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan will host an opening round set of games featuring the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands. The top two teams from the group will advance to the second round in Miami, Florida

Major leaguers Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltrán, Javier Vázquez, Mike Aviles, Geovanny Soto, Iván Rodríguez and Alexis Ríos have all confirmed their intentions to play for their native land next spring.

“No Puerto Rican player from the major league has informed us that he is not going to play and that is very positive” , the president of the Puerto Rican Baseball Federation, Israel Roldán, said to Associate Press. ” The next step is to select coaches that will help Oquendo and to begin putting together a roster.”