Cuba Name Their U-23 World Cup Team: The 24 for Nicaragua

As of 28 October 2026. Cuba has named its team for the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup, which Nicaragua hosts from 6 to 15 November. The Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation announced 24 players on 27 October, cut from the 45-man preselection it named in September. Guillermo Carmona manages. The team gathers in Havana this week and flies to Nicaragua on 4 November; it opens against Korea in León two days later.

The roster has so far appeared only in Spanish. Below is the full 24 in English, with each player’s full name and home province, the coaching staff, the two pitchers who are missing, and a note on why one widely shared version of the list has only 23 names.

The 24, position by position

The federation’s list is two catchers, six infielders, five outfielders and eleven pitchers (JIT; Prensa Latina). Full names are as Prensa Latina printed the federation’s list; provinces are as JIT gives them.

The staff

Carmona, described by JIT as an experienced Havana manager, is joined by bench coach Lugdis Pineda Romero, coaches Julio César Álvarez Pérez and Saúl Isidro Ballester Oramas, pitching coaches Marcos Antonio Fonseca López and Reynier Madruga Bastida, and trainer Abeicy Pantoja Díaz (Prensa Latina; Tiempo21).

Two from Japan’s farm systems, and two pitchers missing

When the preselection was named in September, three of its players were with Japanese clubs: shortstop Jonathan Moreno and pitchers Randy Román Martínez and Darío Sarduy. Our September report covered them. Two have made the team. JIT and Prensa Latina both describe Moreno and Román as having played in the minor-league tier of Japanese professional baseball, and Prensa Latina says both are coming back from injuries.

Sarduy has not made it. JIT reports that the Villa Clara left-hander was injured during his time on a Japanese club’s farm team, and that Havana pitcher Rafael Perdomo is also missing while he finishes treatment to strengthen his throwing arm. That account is from JIT alone; beisbolencuba repeats it.

One other detail is also JIT’s alone: nine of the 24 played at last year’s continental qualifier, including five pitchers, Román, José Ignacio Bermúdez, Fher Cejas, Lee Andy Plumas and Riquelmis Odelín. Among the position players, Pinar del Río’s Juan Manuel Pérez is the infielder who hit five doubles in one Serie Nacional game this month, a Cuban record (our report).

Why one version of the list has 23 names

The federation announced 24 players, and both JIT and Prensa Latina print 24. Beisbolencuba, the Cuban baseball statistics site, printed a list of 23 and noted that the 24th was “pending confirmation”. The missing name is the eleventh pitcher, Christian Rojas Leiva of Villa Clara. He is on the federation’s list as both JIT and Prensa Latina reproduce it, so we have included him. JIT spells his first name Cristian; we have used Prensa Latina’s fuller form until one is confirmed.

Where the 24 come from

Our reading, from JIT’s provinces. Thirteen of the sixteen territories that field a Serie Nacional team have at least one player. Three have none: Santiago de Cuba, who lead the Eastern zone, Ciego de Ávila and Guantánamo. La Habana, Matanzas and Villa Clara have three players each. Pinar del Río, who lead the West, have two. (Standings through 27 October, beisbolencuba.)

That matters beyond the World Cup. The Serie Nacional does not stop for the tournament. Its group stage ends on 1 November and the zone stage runs from 3 to 29 November (our SN65 schedule), so any of these players who has a Serie Nacional place will miss at least the first two zone-stage subseries. Moreno, for one, is not playing in Cuba this season. Radio Reloj reported in September that Villa Clara had lost him and other players to contracts abroad (see our rosters tracker). The federation has not said whether clubs will get replacements.

Cuba’s schedule in Nicaragua

The top three in each six-team group advance to the Super Round from 12 to 14 November. The other six play a consolation round for seventh to twelfth. The bronze-medal game and the final are on 15 November at the Estadio Nacional Soberanía in Managua (JIT; Prensa Latina). Group A is Nicaragua, Chinese Taipei, Puerto Rico, Panama, Australia and Czechia.

What Cuba is up against

Cuba has never won a medal at this level. Its best finish is fourth, in Mexico in 2021 (our 2021 tournament page); it was tenth in 2022, and it did not qualify for 2024 (JIT; beisbolencuba). Group B is the harder group, as we set out in September. Japan are the two-time defending champions (Prensa Latina; Tiempo21), and JIT counts three titles for them, in 2016, 2022 and 2024. Venezuela won in 2021. Japan, Korea and Venezuela were three of the world’s top five in the WBSC rankings when the groups were drawn. With three Super Round places for six teams, Cuba almost certainly has to finish ahead of at least one of them to go through.

The full calendar of Cuba’s national teams this autumn, from the U-18s to Baseball5, is in our October–December guide.

Sources

JIT, “Cuba anuncia equipo para VI Copa Mundial sub-23 de béisbol”, 27 October 2026: roster with provinces, Perdomo and Sarduy, the nine qualifier players, camp and departure dates, schedule, Japan’s titles, Cuba’s history. Prensa Latina, “Cuba anuncia equipo para el Mundial Sub-23 de béisbol”, 27 October 2026: full names, staff, Group A and B, venues, format. Tiempo21, 27 October 2026: the roster, staff and Las Tunas’s two players. Beisbolencuba, “Cuba anuncia equipo para el Mundial Sub-23 de Béisbol 2026 en Nicaragua”, 27 October 2026: the 23-name list. Not used: medal counts for Korea and the tournament’s all-time medal table, which only JIT printed. Standings: beisbolencuba, through 27 October.

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