Lázaro Armenteros is one of the players living abroad who joined the Cuban team in the Premier 12 tournament that will be held next month. Let us remember that he was also in the Cuban tournament pool heading to the World Classic, but in the end he did not make the roster.
On this occasion, Armenteros did not want to leave room for doubt and appeared on October 1 at the Latinoamericano stadium to join the Premier 12 training sessions, in statements to the ‘Cuba Grand Slam’ YouTube channel, he said that from the team to the World Classic they left him out without the shape he was in.
“They contacted me and asked me if I wanted to join the team, I thought about it, I talked about it with my family and then I accepted. When they left me out of the Classic, it motivated me train more, get stronger so that I could see better results,” he recently said in an interview with journalist Cuban Guillermo Rodríguez.
In July 2016, the Cuban signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics, but it was not until the following season that he made his debut in the Dominican Summer League (DSL). Years later he came to be considered the organization’s best prospect. In total the outfielder played seven seasons in the A’s farm system.
“The truth is that I play all three outfields, I have played more center and left, but wherever they put me I am going to do my job and try to contribute to the team,” added Armenteros. “Despaigne, Arruebarruena, they are players that one has been admiring since my childhood, no I am here with them and any advice that I ask for, they are always available to render it.”
Armenteros was released by Oakland last July, right at the MLB All-Star Game break. Last season, the Cuban prospect was put on the roster of 40 but his promotion did not last long mainly due to the high number of strikeouts (154) he amassed during the season.
“So far so good in training, the guys have welcomed as have the coaches, we are ready. I think the team will fight, that is always the goal, to try to bring joy to the Cuban people. Regarding playing with the Industriales, I am one of the people who never says no, but we have to wait and see what happens. Let’s hope they support us, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter where we are, we are all Cubans, we are going to try to do our best,” concluded the Havana-born slugger.