The Cuban Baseball Federation announced on Monday that baseball players Andy Ibanez (Texas Ranger); Yoan Lopez (Arizona and New York Mets) and Elian Leyva (Naranjeros de Hermosillo, Mexico) are on the list of the Cuban national team to participate in the V World Baseball Classic, a historic fact since never before had Cuban baseball players been called up to play outside Cuba.
«We are pleased to announce that Andy Ibanez (Texas Ranger), Yoan Lopez (New York Mets) and Elian Leyva (Naranjeros de Hermosillo) will be part of the preselection of #Cuba for the V World Baseball #Beisbol #BaseBall Classic,» the Federation announced in a message posted on Twitter.
The Federation has informed of «exchanges with a list of athletes of interest and that it will inform in a timely manner about the results of the same, having their consent to do so.»
The entity had indicated that they would count for the selection «with stars of our Elite League and others who play in international circuits».
The Cuban federation itself had recently denounced the harassment, aggressions and false news spread around the initial list of those called for the international event.
The president of the FCB, Mesa Redonda, has also mentioned as obstacles to this call the laws in force in the United States against Cuban institutions. That is why they initiated months ago a dialogue with Major League Baseball to facilitate the summoning of Cuban athletes.
The V World Baseball Classic will be played between March 8 and 21 and will be held in Taiwan, the United States and Japan.
