One of the top young baseball players in Cuba has defected to the United States:
Cuban baseball’s brightest star, Dayán Viciedo, has escaped from Cuba and is now in Miami, following the footsteps of talented island colleagues who have found their way into the major leagues.
Viciedo, a 19-year-old third baseman, is considered as big a star in Cuba as Omár Linares, the most well-rounded player to emerge from the Cuban leagues since 1959 and a player highly coveted by major league scouts during the 1980s
Standing 6-2 and weighing 202 pounds, Viciedo is known as a powerful batter and a versatile defender, capable of playing shortstop, third base and outfield, and he even can pitch. His fastball has been clocked at more than 90 mph, but he said his pitching days are over.
Since age 9, he has played for Cuban national teams in all categories, and at 15 he started playing in the Cuban national championship. He is the first Cuban to play for three national teams at the same time — 15-16 year-olds, juveniles and majors.
In January 2006 he became the youngest player to participate in the All-Stars game and was selected that same year for the World Baseball Classic held in the United States.
”He is a young man with tremendous talent, but had lately become unmotivated and made little effort,” said the Cuban Baseball Federation person in Cuba, who asked for anonymity to avoid government reprisals.
Viciedo said that during the last year his mind has been on his plans to defect from Cuba.
”There is still very good baseball in Cuba, and there are several youths with promise and a lot of talent that are moving up,” he said. “But in general the level has dropped . . . the decline has been abysmal.”
Welcome to America !.
Two pieces of advice:
- Play for the Yankees, not the Red Sox; and,
- Stay away from Prince William County, Virginia `cause some people here apparently don’t like you darn foreigners.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hah, hah, hah.
Any Cuban that hits the soil is auutomatically a legal alien due to the persecution of Cuba.
June 8th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
And why should Cubans, or in this case Cuban baseball players, be the only ones to get this benefit ?
If persecution is the test, then open immigration should be available to anyone who lives under the thumb of an authoritarian regime or at the mercy of bandits and criminals
Right ?
June 8th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
DJ wrote-
“Any Cuban that hits the soil is auutomatically a legal alien due to the persecution of Cuba.”
Yes its called dry foot wet foot here in Florida.(Applies to all Cubans from Baseball players to bottle washers) It must be soil, if the Cuban reaches a unconnected bridge in the FL Keys they can be deported. As this group was.
http://thefloridamasochist.blogspot.com/2006/01/is-bridge-dry-land.html
Bill