CUBA'S NATIONAL BASEBALL SERIES MVPS
Here are our Most Valuable Players from Cuba’s 58th National Baseball Series which ended January 2019. Though these players are not as famous as our Major Leaguers, and don’t have million-dollar contracts, most make approximately $40 a month, they play in a baseball crazy country and are some of the best in the world. The Yankees’ Aroldis Chapman and the Dodgers’ (Now with the Cincinnati Reds) Yasiel Puig are proof of the quality ballplayers that start their careers in Cuba.
Our selections for the Cuban National Baseball Series 2018 season and their home teams,
Rookie of the Year; Eduardo Paret (Manager Villa Clara)
Best Pitcher; Yoalkis Cruz (Las Tunas)
Best Reliever; Frank Medina Garcia (Pinar del Rio)
Best Closer; Dachel Duquesne (Matanzas)
Best Player Offense; Jorge Yhonson (Las Tunas)
Best Player Defense; William Saavedra (Pinar del Rio)
Best Manager; Pablo Civil (Las Tunas)
Las Tunas led the Cuban league since the beginning of the season and fielded what turned out to be the league’s second-best team last year. It was the team to beat by the middle of the second phase and Pablo Civil made better selections this year during the rooster supplementations that are permitted in the Cuban league than he did last year.
Our choice for rookie of the year does not go to a true rookie, since Eduardo Paret has been playing baseball in Cuba for over twenty years. But as the first-year manager of Villa Clara he got his team into the Cuban championship, and for this he has earned our admiration and designation as “Rookie Manager” of the year.
This is the first time that Las Tunas has won the Cuban Baseball National Series championship, and if the team stays together it will be a contender for several seasons to come. BEST CUBAN BASEBALL TOURS!
February 10, 2019
By Frank Gonzalez
www.cubatraveltrips.com