CUBA – Norge L. Vera (Santiago de Cuba) and Yuniesky Maya (Pinar del Rio) will open the first match in the National Baseball Championship of Cuba, to be started in Santiago de Cuba on Saturday.

Vera, a member of the Cuban team winning the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, will start the game for the current Cuban National Champion, Santiago de Cuba.

Maya, a member of the Cuban team participating in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, will be the starter for Pinar del Rio, a team that was in the 2008 national finals.

The National Championship will be agreed on 90 matches to classify the first four teams in each division for the playoffs, after the two groups formed in each division were abolished.

This will be the main novelty, besides a parallel competition called “Development League”, from which some players may be called to play in the National Championship, or sent to play at the Development League, because of a poor performance.

This edition will have several former players as managers for their respective regional teams. Among them there will be Luis Ulacia, Luis Giraldo Casanova and German Mesa.

Casanova, considered the most complete baseball player in Cuba since 1960 up to date, will be the manager for Pinar del Rio, replacing Jorge Fuentes.

German Mesa, for a lot of people the best defensive shortstop in the history of Cuban baseball, will be the manager for Havana’s Industriales, the owner of the greatest number of national championships.

Luis Ulacia, also a shortstop, a former Olympic team member, will manage the regional team of Camaguey, one of the worst in the last seasons.

Former outfielder Wilfredo Menendez will lead Matanzas; Iday Abreu will be at the head of Cienfuegos and Osvaldo Aviles at the head of Granma, while Eduardo Martin, a man who gave Villa Clara its first National Championship, will substitute Victor Mesa at the head of this team.

Photo courtesy of BaseballdeCuba.com

Source: Prensa Latina

Tags: Cuba