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Dayan Viciado, the rough diamond of Cuban baseball
BY ANNE-MARIE GARCÍA —Special for Granma
International—
VILLA Clara’s Dayan Viciedo,
who has made his debut in the Cuban baseball series
at just 15 years of age, is a diamond just waiting
to be polished. He dreams of following in the
footsteps of star player Omar Linares.
Victor Mesa, manager of the
team from Villa Clara, stated that Viciedo is “a
pure diamond” and affirmed that “in two or three
years, he will be a great player, but he’ll have to
work very hard.”
Both pupil and trainer spoke
to Granma International before the game between
Villa Clara and Industriales at the Latinoamericano
stadium in the capital.
Mesa commented that his
pupil has “a good arm and tremendous power. He’s got
excellent technique, but at the same time is
surprisingly calm for his young age and very secure
in defense.”
For his part, Viciedo
commented: “I’ve always admired Linares, ever since
I started playing when I was seven years old. What I
was always most impressed with was his batting.”
A third baseman like his
idol, Vicideo played his first National Series game
last November, just a few months older than Linares
was when he began his career. Linares began playing
in the series before he reached his 15th birthday.
At 1.82 meters in height,
Viciedo weighs in at 89 kilos but, according to
Mesa, he has to lose weight in order to “gain some
speed.”
Viciedo has played in 50 of
the 66 games played so far in the series and has a
batting average of 243. He has one homerun under his
belt and 12 runs, whilst his fielding average is
957.
“It’s not bad for my age,”
said Viciedo, who also revealed that he feels
uncomfortable when he has to face pitchers such as
Deynis Suárez of Industriales or Pinar del Río’s
Pedro Luis Lazo. “His curveballs are always well-placed
and really difficult for me.”
The young player also
admitted having problems with concentration:
“Sometimes, when there’s a big crowd I get a bit
distracted, but this is something you get used to
little by little,” he commented.
He joined the Cuban team for
the 9-10-year age group in a Pan-American
competition in Mexico and later, finished third with
the 11-12-year age group that took part in the World
Championships in Brazil.
In 2004, he played third
base and third batter of the Cuban 15-16-year team
crowned Pan-American champions in Mexico.
Viciedo only plays baseball
but enjoys watching basketball and football and says
that Brazil is his favorite team.
And of course music,
particularly reggae, is also a passion and he
affirms without hesitation that he’s not worried
about not being able to go to parties with friends
of the same age. “There’s plenty of time for that,
my thing is baseball.”
Villa Clara beat
Industriales 3-2 in one of the games of the sub-series
between the two teams; a victory that allowed the
team to move up into second place in Group C in the
eastern zone, with a score sheet of 36-30 in a
series that is currently being led by Industriales
with 45-21.
In the last two series,
Villa Clara lost in the finals against Industriales. |
