(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen & Marco Stoovelaar)
 Former pitcher of ADO Bullpen Coach Spain at World Baseball Classic Qualifier
Nederlands
 MADRID (Spain) -
On March 17, Spain will be one of the four participating teams in the next World Baseball Classic Qualifier, which will be played in Panamá.
There, in Panamá City, the squad will meet Colombia, France and host Panamá.
On the same day, another Qualifier will get underway in Mexicali (México) with the participation of México, Czech Republic, Germany and Nicaragua.
...Manny Olivera...
...during the 2007 European...
...Championship in...
...Barcelona (Spain)...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
A few days ago, the Real Federación Española de Béisbol y Sófbol announced its coaching-staff for the upcoming event.
And that is very experienced staff, which includes former pitcher Manny Olivera, who is a familiar name to (some) Dutch baseball-fans, as he pitched in the Dutch big league 12 years ago.
Olivera will be the Bullpen Coach for the Spanish team.
Manny Olivera began his playing career at Hercules L'Hospitalet in Barcelona and went on to play for Spanish National Teams for more than 20 years.
He first played for the National Junior Team of Spain.
Since 1997, he was a regular player of the National Spanish Team and participated in several big international tournaments, including the Intercontinental Cup in 1997 and the World Championship in 2005 and 2009.
In 2012, he was a member of the pitching staff during the World Baseball Classic Qualifier, which was won by Spain.
He then participated with Spain in the World Baseball Classic in 2013.
That team was led by Manager Mauro Mazzotti, who recently was named Manager of the the Greek National Team.
In the past two seasons, Olivera was active as a Pitching Coach for the GCL Marlins, the Rookie League-team of the Miami Marlins in the Gulf Coast League (Florida).
In 2004, Olivera played in the Netherlands Major League for The Hague-based ADO, where the lefthander was the team's pitching ace, leading the staff in several categories.
He pitched in 18 games for ADO, then-called Tornado's, and struckout 142 batters in 136 innings.
He finished the season with a 9-8 record and a 1.52 ERA.
Olivera played professionally in 2005-2007 in Single-A and Double-A teams of the Florida Marlins.
The coaching staff of Spain will be led by Manager Manny Crespo, who is the Director of Latin America Operations for the Detroit Tigers.
Crespo has been associated with Major League-organizations since 1978 and worked for the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers.
Crespo also was active in the Dominican Republic for the Tigers.
During the World Championship of 2009 and the European Championships of 2012 and 2014, Crespo was the Bench Coach of the Spanish team.
Venezuelan Levy Ochoa will serve as Special Advisor to the Manager.
Ochoa is a Senior Advisor for Player Development with the Atlanta Braves.
He played professionally himself briefly in the Minor Leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox and also played in México and Venezuela.
In later years, he became an international scout and signed several future Major League-players, including Hanley Ramirez, Edgar Renteria and Alex González.
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...Left: Paco Figueroa is tagged out by Sharlon Schoop during...
...the World Championship 2009 in Haarlem...
...Right: Néstor Pérez at the European Championship 2012 in Rotterdam...
(© Photos: Henk Seppen) |
American-born Paco Figueroa will be Crespo's Bench Coach.
He is the Minor League Hitting Instructor of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Figueroa played in the Minor Leagues for seven seasons, including seven with the Baltimore Orioles and one with the Philadelphia Phillies, reaching Triple-A in 2010.
He also played a season in an Independent League.
Wellknown Félix Cano is the 1B Coach in the Spanish coaching-staff.
Cano, who currently coaches the team of Viladecans, is the famous name in Spanish baseball for the last decades and is generally recognized as the best player ever in Spanish history.
The former pitcher played for the National Team of Spain from 1983 through 2007, participating in all major international tournaments in which the team played in that span.
Cano played his entire impressive career for Viladecans and is the holder of numerous records.
Since 2009, Cano is a member of the coaching-staff of the Spanish national squad.
Coaching at third base will be Néstor Pérez.
He is the Manager of the GCL Braves, the Rookie League-team of the Atlanta Braves.
The Cuban-born Pérez played seven seasons professionally in the organizations of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (6 years) and Colorado Rockies.
Pérez was the short stop of the Spanish National Team for ten years, which he closed with the World Baseball Classic in 2013.
Renny Duarte is the Pitching Coach.
Duarte is the Pitching Coach of Padova in Italy and played and coached in Venezuela, Colombia, México, Spain and Italy.
In Spanish baseball, he became one of the best starting pitchers, playing for San Inazio de Bilbao and Marlins de Tenerife.
Duarte is a member of the Spanish coaching-staff since 2009.
In November-December last year, Duarte was the Pitching Coach of Team Europe, which then participated in the Asia Winter Baseball League.
The Venezuelan-born Duarte played professionally in five Minor League-seasons for the Anaheim Angels.
(February 17)
Related Articles:
 Mauro Mazzotti named Manager Greek Baseball Team. (February 15, 2016)
Coverage Asia Winter Baseball League. (November/December 2015)
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