The United States is going to allow Cuban players to play for their home country in the next World Baseball Classic. They recently announced that MLB has given permission to players playing in the MLB or residing in the United States to suit up for the Cuban National Team.
According to the Tapei Times, Cuban Baseball Federation president Juan Reinaldo Perez Pardo said:
“This is a positive step, but it needs to be said it was the only just solution.”
Previously, those players would have either played for the United States or not at all.
A United States embargo and a few recent sanctions seriously complicate transactions with the country of Cuba.
It is so complicated that players cannot play in the MLB without defecting from Cuba. This has caused the Cuban population to drop as a result.
The country is a huge producer of baseball talent, but that talent cannot play in the top league in the world without renouncing the country.
Reports suggest that 650 baseball stars have defected from Cuba in the last six years. Should this agreement between the United States and Cuba extend beyond just this WBC, that might begin to change.
Which MLB stars can now play for the Cuban National Baseball Team?
The exact details of this agreement haven’t been announced, but this likely opens the door for a lot of top tier talent to play for their home country again.
That includes:
- Jose Abreu
- Aroldis Chapman
- Yasmani Grandal
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
- Yoan Moncada
- Jorge Soler
- Rasiel Iglesias
- Luis Robert
- Yordan Alvarez
- Randy Arozarena
- Adolis Garcia
There’s plenty of top-flight talent in Cuba, but they’ve largely been unable to use it these past few years. All-Stars like Yordan Alvarez and Jose Abreu now have the opportunity to represent the country they were born in.
 but they’re still one of the top countries in the world when it comes to baseball. </p>
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