CAMAGÜEY.- The national baseball commissioner, Ernesto Reinoso, announced last week the signing of six of the country's main talents by clubs in the professional league of Panama, including Yosimar Cousín and Loidel Chapellí Jr.
The group is completed by Geisel Cepeda and Luis Dany Morales, from Sancti Spiritus, César Prieto from Cienfuegos and Yunior Tur from Santiago, who will travel to canal lands when they fulfill their commitments in the postseason of the 60th National Baseball Series.
The duo of the Toros, however, will arrive this week in the Panamanian capital to formalize the signatures, of which the National Commission has not given any details, although it is known that almost all the teams in that contest are interested in Cuban athletes. For now, both young people keep training at Cándido González.
“I did not hear about the news immediately. I hadn't been to the stadium that day and when my teammates started calling me to congratulate me, I thought it was a joke. Then I spoke with the Provincial Commissioner and he explained to me that it was true and that we would travel soon, ”said Loidel, rookie of the year from the last Series, exclusively for Adelante Digital.
For Cousín “it was something surprising, because in recent years there have been rumors of attempts to hire me, but never from that country. Now I am doing research on the tournament ”.
The star pitcher is still not sure which club will add him to his roster, while the outfielder told us that Los Santos requested his services.
Currently the Major Baseball Championship of Panama is made up of eight teams: Bocas del Toro, Coclé, Co-lón, Chiriquí, Herrera, Panama Oeste, Panama Metro and the aforementioned Los Santos. Although the main tournament that is organized in that nation is the Liga Probeis, it has the quality to continue the projection of our boys.
Yosimar, who has accumulated 26 successes and 35 defeats in six National Series, is “very motivated by the new challenge. Other Cuban pitchers like Yera and Freddy Asiel had good performances there in previous years and I plan to succeed as well. It is a first step to fulfill my goal of playing in higher level competitions and learning from each of them to be a better pitcher every day.
“It is an excellent opportunity to continue growing as a player internationally. I'm happy to be able to test myself at that level and I think it's very good that they open the doors to the youngest at this point in our careers, ”said the son of the emblematic first baseman of our provincial teams.
While waiting for the trip to be finalized and for the organizers of the Panamanian Federation to finally set a start date for the event, both players maintain the preparation that they began days ago in case a manager asked them for reinforcements for the semifinals of this Cuban campaign.
In any case, the championship of the Central American country will not have an extension greater than two months, so both will be back before the start of the 61st National Series of Baseball.
- Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez