The Dominican Republic began training on Tuesday to form the best possible baseball team to look for a place at the Tokyo Olympics.
“We have an interesting group, many Dominicans who do not have a contract in the United States have responded to the call to be part of the team,” said Dominican team general manager José Gómez.
“We have a large group, because we know that some of them will be able to get a job, others could have an accident and learn from past mistakes, because we do not convene a small group, but more than 40 players which will enter two groups and we intend to add a few organized baseball players to have the best possible team to represent the country, “he added.
In practice yesterday, among the most recognized, Emilio Bonifacio and Juan Francisco were seen, two relevant pieces of the Dominican winter ball.
“There are also Jorge Bonifacio, Emilio’s brother, Jefry Pérez, Jimmy Pardes, Gustavo Núñez, Diego Goris, Juan Francisco, Carlos Franco. In pitching we have people like Edward Paredes, Darío Alvarez, Lisalverto Bonilla, Jairo Asencio, William Jerez, Luis Santos, we have many important arms of winter baseball “, he said.
The team travels on April 22 and will play three shots in Florida before starting hostilities on April 31 in the first game against Puerto Rico.
“We have to be in the top eight in America. Only Mexico has qualified so far. We share a group with Puerto Rico, the United States and Nicaragua. On the other hand is Venezuela, Colombia, Canada and Cuba, all strong teams “.
The team leader is Fernando Tatis, who was not present on the first day of training because he is in the United States with his son, who is recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the game on Monday 5.
“We hope to have Fernando next week, meanwhile Wilton Veras is in charge of practice. We also have Manny Garcia as pitching coach and Anderson Hernandez. Later, other coaches will join “, added Gómez.
In addition to Gómez, in baseball operations, the Dominican team has directors from winter teams such as Daniel Rufenacht (Licey), Oliver Arias, (Stars), Luis Manuel Sánchez (Giants) and Héctor Borg (Bulls).
“We have an interesting group, many Dominicans who do not have a contract in the United States”
