A Cuban baseball player defected to the United States following the World Baseball Classic in Miami this week.
Ivan Prieto Gonzalez served as the bullpen catcher for Team Cuba before the team suffered a major defeat by Team USA, losing 14-2 on Sunday night. Following the semifinals, Gonzalez did not join his team at the Miami International Airport as they headed back to Havana, Cuba. Prieto joined an ongoing list of athletes that have defected from the communist country to join the United States. Per Fox News:
The decision by Prieto to defect from Cuba is one that many baseball players have done before him. MLB is riddled with players who found a way to get over to the United States in order to live out their dreams as a professional baseball player, as Cuba still does not allow it to happen.
A famous instance was Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, who rose to fame with the New…
