Cuba has been having a problem filling rosters for international tournaments with competitive teams because of its refusal to incorporate players who have either defected from the island or are not under the umbrella of the Cuban Baseball Federation. This changed when Yadir Drake was allowed to play with Cuba in the 2021 Olympic Qualifier in West Palm Beach. This opened the door for the 2023 World Baseball Classic roster that included major leaguers such as Luis Robert, Andy Ibáñez and Yoán Moncada. Ex- MLBers such as Roenis Elías, Onelki García and Erisbel Arruebarruena also graced the squad.
After that Cuba was no longer allowed to hold on to the lie that MLB was not allowing its players to play with the country and succumbed to the so-called “Pelota Esclava” (Slave Ball) the moniker that dictator Fidel Castro gave professional baseball. In 2013 the FCB decided to allow its players to sign with professional teams, doing a hypocritical 180 degree turn and reversing the beard’s policy on professional baseball. More than 50% of Cuba’s roster for the 2023 WBC roster was made up of players that do not reside on the island and at least 75% of the team played in professional leagues exclusively not named the Serie Nacional.
Cuba, who once preached solidarity and how evil professional baseball was succumbed to the so-called devil from the north. With 28 nays for its 2023 WBC from MLB players that included stars such as Yordan Álvarez, Adolis García, Yandy Díaz, Randy Arozarena, Cionel Pérez and Jorge Soler, miraculously the Antilleans still managed to make the semifinals of tournament in Miami. Most of us experts attributed the results to good matchmaking, wink,wink. In the city with the biggest concentration of Cubans in the United States the team was drubbed by a star-studded team USA 14-2 in a packed house in loanDepot Park.
What course the island’s international baseball future will take depends on its political future. With the scars of players being called desertors or being victim to acts of repudiation still fresh it will take a long time before you see a Cuban team chock full of major league stars, unless something gives in Cuba. With another WBC on the horizon expect a tossup to the amount of MLB players that will suit up with Cuba, because baseball is a political tool on the island for its regime and this has inflicted a lot of pain on most Cubans worldwide, not only baseball players.
Players residing abroad on the Cuban 60-man roster for the Premier 12:
–Erisbel Arruebarrena
–Roberto Baldoquín
–Yadil Mujica
–Alexei Ramírez
–Jean Walters,
-Ernesto Martínez Jr
–Yoan Moncada
–Lázaro Armenteros
-Yadir Drake
–Yoan López
-Yusniel Padrón
–Ronald Bolaños
-Maykel Taylor
–Tailon Sanchez