Baseball, Andy Rodriguez also deserted in the USA: he is the fourth of the Cuban team
Neptune’s baseball stadium – Photo JRC wikipedia.it – CC BY-SA 2.5A fourth member of the Cuban baseball team has decided to defect and stay in Florida after the Pre-Olympic Tournament of the Americas. It is about Andy Rodriguez, who plays in the Japanese league and is considered one of the emerging talents of Cuban baseball. In recent days they had decided to defect two other players and the psychologist of the Cuban delegation. The 22 year old “decided to violate his contract with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks team of the Professional League of Japan, the country he was supposed to travel to today from the United States“, Reports the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) in a statement.
The player had signed with the Japanese team in January “but he didn’t show up at the airport, unlike Alfredo Despaigne, Livan Moinelo, Raidel Martinez and Yadiel Rodriguez“, Who play in Japan with the FCB’s endorsement. Before him, Ce’sar Prieto, considered one of the best talents in Cuban baseball, defected on May 26, just hours after his arrival in the United States. Last Thursday the team psychologist, Jorge Sile Figueroa, left. Pitcher Lazaro Blanco left the team on Friday to stay in the United States. The Cuban national baseball team, after two defeats in Venezuela and Canada, failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time in its history, causing consternation in Cuba, three-time Olympic champion in this discipline.
