The Cuban team management today announced Raymond Figueredo to take the mound, in a decisive duel against the Japanese samurai in the group stage of the Premier 12 baseball tournament.
The 26-year-old right-hander, a native of the capital’s Key West neighborhood, will carry on his back the hopes of a team, forced to win to maintain the aspirations of being included among the big four, after displaying a record of one win and two. of setbacks in key B with an appointment in Taiwan.
Figueredo, one of the 34 talents included in the list that the Cuban Federation of this sport gave to Major League Baseball in 2018 before Donald Trump’s administration interrupted the historic agreement between both entities, will assume the biggest commitment of his career with the costume of the Cuban team.
Their opponents, current champions of this tournament and of the last World Classic and number one in the world ranking according to the World Baseball and Softball Confederation, are undefeated in three outings and with one more victory they would earn the ticket to access the super round, where they will be defined the medals.
«Wearing the national team uniform is the greatest thing in the world. It is the dream and objective of every Cuban and one prepares all year round to defend those four letters,” he told Prensa Latina after one of the training sessions at the Latin American stadium before leaving for Asia.
In the 2023 season, the pitcher became the first Cuban player to win two medals in the same sporting event, when he won bronze with Industriales and silver as a reinforcement of Artemisa in the II Elite League.
In 2024, in the dual role of starter and reliever, he was one of the key pitchers in Serie A of the Italian professional championship with Parma Clima, a team that was proclaimed champion.
The challenge against those from the Land of the Rising Sun is scheduled for this Sunday at the Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei, at 6:00 p.m. local time (5:00 a.m. in Cuba).
The table of positions of key B presents Japan (3-0) in the place of honor, followed by Chinese Taipei (2-1), South Korea (2-2), Cuba and Australia (1-2) and Dominican Republic (1-3), the latter eliminated from any possibility of advancing to the next instance.
Venezuela (4-1) and the United States (3-2) obtained the two tickets in dispute in key A to access the final round, to be played in Japan from the 20th to the 24th of this month.
