Former Major League Baseball first baseman Carlos Delgado will manage the Puerto Rico national team in February’s Copa Unión Antillana. The three-team tournament featuring Cuba and the Dominican Republic will occur at Estadio Luis A. “Canena” Márquez in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, from Friday, Feb. 21 to Sunday, Feb. 23.
The Federación de Béisbol de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rican Baseball Federation) announced Delgado as the manager this past Friday. Delgado, who played 17 seasons in MLB from 1993-2009, will make his managerial debut in the Copa Unión Antillana.
The 52-year-old was Puerto Rico’s hitting coach in the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classics. According to a report from Grandes en los Deportes on X, Delgado will team up with Ivan Rodriguez, Roberto Alomar, and Edgar Martinez on Puerto Rico’s operations staff for the 2026 WBC. He represented Puerto Rico as a player in the WBC in 2006 and 2009.
Puerto Rico’s Copa Unión Antillana roster will feature players from the Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente and Béisbol Doble A, a Puerto Rican amateur spring and summer league governed by the Federación de Béisbol Aficionado de Puerto Rico.
Coincidentally, Delgado will manage his first game in the city where he was born.
“We are super happy to start working and shape this project,” Delgado said in a statement released on Beisboldobleapr.com. “It is a pride and a great challenge to lead a national team, and even more so to do it in my town of Aguadilla, in front of family and the people who saw me grow up. We will give everything to present a competitive team that competes against great powers such as the Dominican Republic and Cuba.”
Delgado added that practices for the Copa Unión Antillana will begin next week. Puerto Rico is ranked ninth in the WBSC World Baseball Rankings, followed by Cuba at 10 and the Dominican Republic at 11.
This past October, the LBPRC announced that the 2024-25 season would be dedicated to Delgado. The former Toronto Blue Jay, New York Met, and Florida Marlin holds the MLB record for career home runs by a Puerto Rican player, with 473.
Copa Unión Antillana Schedule
All Times Eastern Standard Time
All Games Will Occur at Estadio Luis A. “Canena” Márquez
Friday, February 21
2 p.m. – Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic
7 p.m. – Puerto Rico vs. Cuba
Saturday, February 22
2 p.m. – Cuba vs. Dominican Republic
7 p.m. – Cuba vs. Puerto Rico
Sunday, February 23
2 p.m. – Cuba vs. Dominican Republic
7 p.m. – Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico
UPDATE – On Monday afternoon, the Federación Cubana de Beisbol y Softbol announced Cuba would not participate in February’s Copa Unión Antillana. The Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation sent a letter to the event organizers, citing the difficulty of processing a visa to travel to Puerto Rico.
The letter is available in Spanish and can be translated into English on JIT, a Cuban news website.
As of Monday evening, no further announcements had been made about what Cuba’s exclusion from the tournament means for the teams from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic or if there is a plan to find a replacement team.
