Cuban Baseball Federation denounces campaign of lies and pressure

Havana, November 1 (RHC)-- The president of the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), Juan Reinaldo Perez Pardo, said Monday at the Adolfo Luque Hall of the Latin American Stadium, that a campaign of disinformation, pressures and harassment has been orchestrated against the dialogues with athletes inserted in professional leagues towards the V World Baseball Classic.

In the same scenario, Pavel Quesada and Yuen Socarrás were chosen as player and pitcher of the week in the First Elite League of Cuban Baseball, according to a press conference.

Quesada prevailed in the voting thanks to the criteria of the press and the National Baseball Commission (CNB), but the favor of the fans was narrowly won by Leonardo Urgellés. In the case of Socarrás, he received the distinction unanimously by all parties.

Frank Camilo Morejón, baseball glory on the Island, received the gifts of both players and exchanged extensively with the press about the health of our catcher at present.

Carlos Martin, methodologist of the CNB, commented that the League started with parameters of defense, pitching and batting above what was expected and what happened in the last national series, qualitatively speaking. He admitted that they expect to behave like this during the course of the event, although in the last few days more errors have been made and the bats have been "heating up", the latter something that was also foreseen.

With the first three subseries concluded, the batting average is a high .284; the pitchers show an effectiveness of 3.70 and the defense is around .976.

At the meeting, the schedule for the rescheduled challenges was announced, which will require, starting on November 5, four doubleheaders for each team and the use of the reserve week in December (21-24) with single games.

These doubleheaders will be played starting at 10:00 a.m. with 30 minutes between each game of seven innings each.

Pérez Pardo confirmed that the champion of the Elite League will attend the Gran Caracas Baseball Caribbean Series 2023, in February, reinforced by the agreement between the team management and the CNB.

Asked about the celebration of games in Pinar del Río next weekend, the head of the FCB explained that all efforts are being made to make it happen.

In an exchange with journalists, Perez Pardo reaffirmed that the FCB is determined to call for international commitments to athletes inserted in foreign leagues.

He said that this call will be based on the technical-tactical demands, the prominence of the events and the willingness of the players.

He denounced the execution of a campaign of disinformation and pressure to derail this purpose, which includes false news that seeks to demotivate and intimidate the athletes who are truly interested.

He affirmed that the FCB will continue to work with the list of athletes that represent an interest at this time, and that it will opportunely offer all possible information to the press, always respecting the criteria of those baseball players who prefer total discretion in this regard.

We are not aware of any other national federation facing these situations", said Pardo, before assuring that everything would be different if the agreement signed between the FCB and Major League Baseball (MLB) was active.

On the subject, he acknowledged exchanges with MLB in relation to the V Classic, but also that an operational agreement would favor many other strategies and joint actions.

Perez Pardo reaffirmed that the responsibility for the non-existence of such an agreement today is entirely attributable to the US government.