We recently spoke to Brayan Peña, who is part of Colombia’s coaching staff about the importance of beating Cuba to him in the World Baseball Classic. The ex-MLB catcher also gave us his opinión about Cuban exiles that play for the national team in the upcoming tournament.
Currently Peña is a manager within the Detroit Tigers minor league system. This winter he was the bench coach for the Toros del Este and was a key component of their run to a Dominican League Finals Series, which the eventually lost to the Leones del Escogido in five games.
Over his career the native of Havana played in the big leagues for the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals over 12 year and slashed .259/.299/.351/.650 over that span. Peña has the future makings of a big league manager.
Being that you’re a Cuban exile, is there an incentive to be Cuba during that upcoming tournament?
I mean, first of all, I want to say thank you to the Colombian team. Because, you know, for them to allow me to be part of them and for them, you know, to give me an opportunity to do something great, you know. And that is part of WBC. But at the same time, you know, it’s one of those things, man, that I’m very happy. I’m super excited about, you know, what I can do. And also, you know, I’m representing the free Cubans. I’m representing those Cuban people, you know, they really deserve and they really need freedom. And, you know, I’m super excited and super happy to be in this position. But also, I want to say this. I want to preach, you know, for freedom, for freedom for my people. Because, you know, we deserve that, you know that our people deserve a much better life. And, you know, hopefully that coming soon, hopefully it’s coming this year. Our people deserve freedom.
We’ve talked off camera about this, about Cubans that are exiles, free Cubans, as you said earlier, playing for Cuba. What’s your opinion on somebody from Cuba, I mean, an exile playing for that team?
Well, me, personally, I definitely feel like you’re gonna hear this a lot from different people.But I’m gonna give you my opinion. Obviously, I wouldn’t never do it, you know, because I represent the free Cubans I represent, you know, the real Cubans. I’m talking about the exiled Cuban, you know, because in my humble corner, you know, I want to preach for freedom. I want to preach for liberty. I want to preach for us to continue to help our people because our people need that. I think they’re playing for and I mean I believe, you know, they’re playing for the Cuban government, you know, So I don’t agree with that. I totally don’t agree with that. But it’s up to them if they’re conscious. And, you know, someday they’re probably going have to look back and regret it, you know, Because, you know, our people deserve better and we have to use our platform, you know, to continue to push for freedom and continue to do what we need to do, you know, to help people in the entire country and on the entire planet to realize that we deserve better and that is part of what we need to do and continue to push for freedom and continue to push for liberty. And hopefully, one day everything change and we can all get back and being in a free Cuba.