The Cuban team has been sapped of a lot of its star power over the years, with former national steam standouts like Aroldis Chapman, Yoenis Céspedes, Jose Abreu and Yulieski Gurriel all now playing in the big leagues and unable to don the national reds. Consequently, for this year’s team Cuba, a lot of eyes will be on some of the younger players, but no one is likely to draw more attention than RF Yoelkis Céspedes.
It all seems so familiar. Team Cuba in another WBC. The team takes the field. A promising young player from Granma trots out to right field, wearing #51.