¿Who is Rubi Silva?

Following INDER’s information on the repeal of the requirement to repatriate in order to participate in the country’s sports championships, Rubi Silva, a baseball player born in the former Havana province who played in Minor League teams for more than a decade in the United States and other Latin American countries, requested his inclusion in the roster of the Matanzas Crocodiles, which was accepted.

Many young fans, mostly followers of the local team, have approached us asking: who is Rubi Silva?

Rubi was born on June 25th, 1989 in Güines (some texts say in Artemisa) and since he was a child he broke into school and youth baseball in his native province with good results. He is a versatile right-handed fielder and left-handed hitter, who can play in the outfield or in the infield.

His debut in the National Series took place in the XLVII campaign (2007-08) with the Vaqueros, under the command of Esteban Lombillo, a contest in which he had little participation, since he only batted 66 times and connected 14 hits for an average of 212.

The following year, which would be his last in our tournaments, he was one of the pieces that contributed to the triumph, for the first time, of a team from that province in the National Series.

The magnificent combination of first and second bats of the team formed by the then rookie Dennis Laza and Rubi Silva, who were able to get on base repeatedly giving the possibility to Michael Gonzalez, Ernesto Molinet, Michel Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Linares, Rafael Orta or Danger Guerrero, to bring them to the plate, is not forgotten.

That team also had a formidable pitching staff made up of Jónder Martínez, Yadier Pedroso, Yulieski González or Miguel Alfredo González, among the most outstanding.

In that season, at only 19 years of age, Rubi Silva, in addition to averaging over 300, was the leader in triples in the Series with a total of ten.

Soon after, he left Cuba via Mexico to try, as he has pointed out, to make a name for himself in professional baseball.

He was signed by the Chicago Cubs and later moved to the Baltimore Orioles. During five seasons in the Minor League branches of those teams, he played up to Triple A, but was never promoted to the Major Leagues, despite having some quality performances.

In Latin America he played for teams in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia and Nicaragua, always with outstanding performances.

Adding up his statistics, including those of Cuba, according to Baseball Reference, Silva has played 1,425 games, with 5,231 at-bats; 713 runs scored; 1,478 hits, including 233 doubles, 90 triples and 105 home runs, 661 runs batted in and an offensive average of 283.

At 34 years of age, Rubi has a few more seasons left to prove his quality in the Matanzas uniform. Welcome to the home of the Cocodrilos.

Written by Francisco Soriano