Two Cuban baseball players defect while on trip in North Carolina – WRALSportsFan.com

Durham, N.C. — Ahead of Friday night’s game between the USA Collegiate National Team and the Cuban Senior National Team at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, two Cuban baseball players have defected while in the United States.

Heriberto Suarez Pereda, commissioner of baseball in Cuba, confirmed the defections to WRAL. He said that while it is a huge loss for the team in terms of talent, it is also a very personal decision for the players.

“We have our ways and they have their ways,” said Cuban player Yosbany Torres in Spanish about the defectors. “But we all have a love for baseball. It’s in our blood and it always will be. When can reach a mutual understanding, very good things will come.”

Third baseman Luis Yander La O and outfielder Yadiel Hernandez each left the team while on tour in the United States in preparation for the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

The U.S. and Cuba opened their 2015 summer Friendship Series in Cary Wednesday night and played again at DBAP Thursday. Team USA won each game 2-0. The series will conclude in Charlotte over the weekend.

The 25-year-old La O batted .329 in the Cuban league last season for Santiago. Hernandez is a 28-year-old who averaged .355 for Matanzas in 2014-15.

Cuban team managers made it clear Friday that the defections were to pursue MLB opportunities not afforded to the players in Cuba due to the embargo that remains between the two nations.

The relationship between the two countries is evolving, however, as the reopening of embassy’s in Washington and Havana have generated recent headlines and the United States officially removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terror earlier in June.

“Our main objective is to play,” Torres said. “And the friendship, the friendship that is flourishing between our countries.”

Defections have continued to hit Cuba’s national team despite a decision in late 2013 to raise athletes’ salaries and let them sign lucrative contracts to compete overseas during the offseason.

This year, four Cubans have gone on contracts to Canada, and three to Japan.

Cuban baseball players can now seek to be released from their local clubs, with the national federation deciding whether they are needed for the national team.

Infielder Yoan Moncada was granted release last year, left the country and later agreed to a record $31.5 million signing bonus with the Boston Red Sox.