The Spanish baseball team that will compete this Friday in the Qualifier for the Premier 12 2027 is mostly composed of players of Cuban descent: nine players and one coach born on the island are part of the roster that Spain will present in Barcelona, according to Pelota Cubana.
The tournament kicks off this Friday at the Carlos Pérez de Rozas Municipal Baseball Stadium and features Spain, Italy, Germany, and Colombia in a round-robin format. The top two teams will earn a spot in the Premier 12 2027, which is also part of the pathway to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The nine Cuban players called up are the catcher Omar Hernández, team captain, the outfielders Félix Stevens and Frank Hernández, and the pitchers Elián Leyva, Pablo Luis Guillén, Royd Hernández, Rubén Menes, Dayán González, and Carlos Sierra. The coaching staff also includes Cuban representation through coach Néstor Pérez.
Spain is the host of the group and the least favored according to the WBSC world ranking: it ranks 26th, behind Colombia (13), Italy (14), and Germany (17).
The schedule has Spain facing Germany this Friday, Italy on Saturday, and Colombia on Sunday, with all matches at 7:00 PM local time.
Several of the selected players have notable careers wearing the Spanish jersey. Omar Hernández, born in Havana in 2001, arrived in Spain with his twin brother Frank in 2013 and trained at the Viladecans Baseball Club, where he became the first player from the club to sign with a Major League franchise by agreeing with the Kansas City Royals in 2018. In the 2023 European Championship, he led the competition in runs scored and home runs, with an OPS of 1.397 and four home runs.
Pablo Luis Guillén, a pitcher from Villa Clara, was one of the main starters for the 2023 European Championship, and in this year's Spanish league, he recorded a 3-0 record with Tenerife, an ERA of 0.46 over 19.2 innings, and a WHIP of 0.73.
Royd Hernández, for his part, achieved a record of 4-1 in 2024 with an ERA of 2.21 and 53 strikeouts in the same number of innings.
The call-up with nine Cubans on Spain's roster represents the largest concentration of players of that origin in a Spanish national team to date, surpassing the six spots they held in the qualifying round of the VI World Baseball Classic held in February 2025.
This strategy bore its most visible fruit at the 2023 European Championship in the Czech Republic, where Spain claimed its first continental title in 68 years, thanks to decisive contributions from Cuban players. Eligibility through passport, ancestry, or permanent residency in Spain has allowed the federation of that country to systematically incorporate Cuban emigrants with international competitive levels.
Cuba, meanwhile, does not need to compete in this qualifier: its position in the WBSC ranking granted it direct access to the Premier 12 2027, so several of its former players could face the Cuban national team in that phase if Spain manages to qualify in Barcelona.
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