Photo: Yuhki Ohboshi
The Cuban team that will participate in the upcoming Premier 12 concluded its inclusion in the Ulsan KBO Fall this October 29 with three victories, one defeat and a few of games suspended due to rain. One of the players who returns to the club from the World Classic squad is Santiago’s Yoelkis Guibert, who could be one of the starting outfielders on the 13th of this month against the Dominican Republic.
This Wednesday the Antillean team lost 2-0 to Korea in the Korean country’s capital, Seoul, where they will play two exhibition games against the Korean team. Both games will be in Seoul and named in the the K-Baseball Series.
“We have had good preparation games, the first day we started with a defeat, I think something that affected us was the change in schedule, we were still not well adapted, but in the following games things improved and we had better results. Personally, I am also trying to make my adjustments to try to reach the Premier 12 tournament in the best possible shape, which is the main objective,” Guibert declared to the digital media site Jit.
“Here in Asia the pitchers master the strike zone well, they make good pitches, they don’t have that great speed, but it still helps us prepare, we are seeing pitches and trying to make the adjustments to reach the Premier with the best possible timing. Guibert played in the four preparation games with Cuba in the Ulsan KBO Fall, there he had four hits in 15 at-bats (.267), with a two doubles, RBI, four walks and three strikeouts.
“The two games against the Korean team are going to be very important because the talent level is going to rise a little more, there we will truly face higher quality pitching. just as the pitchers will have to face better hitters,” concluded Guibert regarding the games against Korea on Friday and Saturday.
This summer between the Serie Nacional and the Venezuelan Liga Mayor de Béisbol the outfielder hit .373 with 17 homers, 22 doubles, three triples and 80 runs batted in, it is safe to say that various winter league teams are interested in the toolsy Cuban’s services.