Photo: Yuhki Ohboshi
Alfredo Despaigne has been a star player for Cuban teams for more than a decade and in the Premier 12 will not be the exception, the native of Santiago de Cuba is aiming for another international tournament where everything indicates that he will act as the cleanup man and designated hitter. , something common for quite sometime now.
“I feel very good, I am physically well, I have trained well, with high expectations in this tournament. We hope to do a better job than in the World Classic. The objective is to win the Premier 12. All my teammates and coaches are working hard on that, focusing on winning the tournament,” said the slugger during an interview with journalist Guillermo Rodríguez at the Latinoamericano Stadium.
In Japan he starred for 10 seasons, the first three with Chiba Lotte and the rest with the Soft Bank Hawks. During his time in the NPB he slashed .261/.349/.435/.834, with 789 hits in 3,028 at-bats, 121 doubles, three triples, 184 home runs and 545 RBIs. “It was helpful to have played the National Series this season, for years I had not played the full season with Granma, in this contest I played a good number of games.
“I am happy to have played a complete Serie Nacional and it will be very useful for the upcoming tournament,” added Despaigne. In the last Cuban tournament he played 58 games with Granma in the regular season, where he hit .378 with a staggering 1.319 OPS and was the only player in the tournament with 20 home runs. He was walked 76 times, 18 of them intentional, and he reached base in more than half of his at-bats.
“I am motivated to return to Asia, because it is an area that I have been in for 10 years. I am very happy to return and above all to reconnect with friends and former teammates. I have no problem playing in the outfield, they just have to let me know and I go wherever I want.
There has been a good dynamic in the training sessions, those who were new have gelled well with the group, there is a very nice brotherhood developing with this team right now,” concluded Despaigne. In the last World Classic, Cuba called incorporated some MLB players and finished in fourth place, but Despaigne continued to be in the core part of the lineup. In that tournament he hit 7-for-21, with three doubles and five RBIs.