One of the most popular baseball players born in Cuba is, without a doubt, Yasiel Puig, who will return for the second consecutive year with the Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. The Cienfuegos native was a fundamental factor in the team’s victory in the Venezuelan circuit and in the Caribbean Series. Puig was very loved last year by the fans and this year he has once again endeared himself to the fans because of his charisma.
At training this Friday Yasiel spoke to the Tiburones press. “I feel very happy and grateful to be back here with La Guaira. We are looking for back-to-back championships this year. I am here in camp early having a good time with my teammates and all the coaches. Guillén is missing, but we have had a great time in these three or four days that we have been here.”
“I did quite well, thank God, with the Águilas de Veracruz, my second year with that franchise and there were plenty of La Guaira players in the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol. We as a team are also very grateful to the Mexicans for giving us the opportunity to play there. That league is getting better every day.”
“My main goal is to have the best possible at-bats I can and help the team, earn the victories necessary to reach the championship. We know that this year all the teams are going to strengthen themselves to try to beat us because we are the current champions. I have a lot of talented teammates and we have a good team.”
During the regular season last year, the Cienfuegos native put up impressive numbers hitting.418, with an on-base percentage of .518, and an OPS of 1.364. The ” Crazy Horse” slugged .846 and knocked in 23 RBIs. He also swatted 38 hits, including seven doubles, a triple and 11 homers. During the 12 games of the Round Robin he hit .383 with four home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs. In the league final he smashed eight hits in 19 at-bats. Of those eight hits, three were for doubles, he left the yard once and drove in six runs.