Puerto Rico will bring players from all teams to the Caribbean Series

The Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (LBPRC) announced on Friday the team that will represent Puerto Rico in the Gran Caracas 2023 Caribbean Series, which will be led by Mako Oliveras and with Edwards Guzman as his right hand in the bank.

The announcement, made by the president of the LBPRC, Juan Flores Galarzamaterialized after long meetings held between Thursday and Friday, after the Mayagüez Indians were crowned on Wednesday night.

“Of all the franchises we are duly represented,” Flores Galarza said in an announcement made through the WAPA Deportes Sports Line program.

As Flores Galarza explained, the team will have three receivers: Brian Navarreto (CAR), Alan Marrero (MAY) and Rubén Castro (RA12).

Seven infielders were also included, and those were Vimael Machín (CAG), Edwin Díaz (CAG), Jeremy Rivera (MAY), Jesmuel Valentín (PON), Emmanuel Rivera (MAY), Gabriel Cancel (CAR) and Brett Rodríguez (MAY).

Danny Ortiz (MAY), Brian Torres (CAR), Anthony Garcia (MAY) and Roby Enriquez (MAY) They will be the team’s outfielders.

While the group of pitchers will have 14 pitchers, a number justified by Flores Galarza due to the number of games that would have to be played consecutively to be crowned in the Series. Puerto Rico prepares to play nine consecutive days if necessary.

so he recruited Darryl Thompson (MAY), Ronnie Williams (MAY), Rob Whalen (MAY), Luis Leroy Cruz (SAN), Braden Webb (MAY), Fernando Cabrera (PON), Ricardo Vélez (RA12), Danny Wirchansky (MAY), José Espada (CAR), Ricardo Gómez (CAG), Carlos Francisco (MAY), Nelvin Fuentes (MAY), Alex Sanabia (SAN) and Héctor Hernández (SAN).

“Mako is going to be the leader, Edwards Guzman will be the coach of the bank. The top coach is Felix Molina and the third one is orlando mercedthe hitting coach is Jose Leon and the bullpen coach Joshua Matos”, added the league leader.

Flores Galarza indicated that the selection process for this team was somewhat complicated by the commitments of players with their teams in American baseball, whose spring training begins next month. He indicated that he has insisted to the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation that the series take place the last week of January and the first days of February.

In this case, the brothers Josh and Richie Palacioslike the receiver Roberto ‘Bebo’ Perezwere not available due to their commitments in the United States.

“We even went looking for other players in other franchises but they weren’t available either, as is the case with Fernando Cruzfrom Santurce,” said Flores Galarza.

He also clarified that other key figures of the Indians such as Blaine Crim, Chavez Young and Chavez Fernander They were not eligible to play in the Caribbean Series because they joined the Puerto Rican tournament on or after December 15. The regulations stipulate that only players who join before that deadline are eligible.

In Flores Galarza’s communication, he indicated that the logistics for the team’s practices and their air transfer were altered due to complications with the airline in which they will travel. Now, according to the president, instead of traveling on February 1 as originally planned, the delegation of around 75 people will be divided into five groups that will start traveling on Monday, January 30.

The president said that the first group will leave San Juan on Monday morning and the last one at night. He did not rule out that some will have to spend the night in Panama City, a destination that will be their first stop. From there they would travel to the city of Valencia, Venezuela, where they would enter customs into the South American country.

Due to changes in the travel itinerary, the practice days at the Hiram Bithorn were affected, so the LBPRC manages to carry out training in Venezuela, once they are installed there.