Yusseff Díaz of Pelota Cubana USA reported on X that former Major League Baseball catcher Brayan Peña would be the next manager of LIDOM’s Águilas Cibaeñas.
Peña, 43, replaces Yadier Molina, who took over for Manny Garcia after the Cibaeñas began the 2024-25 season with a poor 2-7 record. Águilas finished the regular season 28-22 but went 4-11 in this year’s LIDOM Round Robin.
Peña was born in La Habana, Cuba, and played 12 seasons in MLB with the Atlanta Braves (2005-08), Kansas City Royals (2009-12), Detroit Tigers (2013), Cincinnati Reds (2014-15), and St. Louis Cardinals (2016). He played a career-high 115 games in 2014 with the Reds but primarily served as the backup catcher for every organization he played for. Peña finished his MLB career with 23 home runs and a .650 OPS in 638 games.
During the winter of his playing days, the switch hitter played three seasons (2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09) with LIDOM’s Gigantes del Cibao and two (2010-11, 2011-12) with the Leones del Escogido. Additionally, Peña was a member of the Dominican Republic’s Caribbean Series teams in 2008 and 2010. The champion D.R. went 5-1 in the 2010 Caribbean Series, with their only defeat a 7-3 loss to Puerto Rico.
Peña’s new gig with the Cibaeñas is not his first managerial position. From 2021-23, Peña managed the West Michigan Whitecaps, the High-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Peña led the Whitecaps to a 72-59 record in 2022, their first season with 69 or more victories since 2017, when they won 91 games.
Currently, Peña is the manager of FEPCUBE, a position appointed to him by the Cuban Professional Baseball Federation in October 2023. Not affiliated with the Federación Cubana de Béisbol are FEPCUBE and the CPBF.
Last month, FEPCUBE lost 5-4 in an exhibition game at the Kendall Campus Baseball Field against Miami Dade College.
FEPCUBE was supposed to play in the canceled Intercontinental Series in Barranquilla, Colombia, in January 2024. The tournament organizers, Team Renteria, canceled the event “for reasons unrelated to our organization.” There was immediate suspicion that FEPCUBE’s troubled relations with the Cuban government were the primary reason for canceling.
Peña will seek to lead the Cibaeñas to a LIDOM championship and a Caribbean Series berth for the first time since the 2020-21 season. Peña’s hiring is not the only offseason move thus far for Águilas. Over the weekend, Cibaeñas appointed René Francisco as the organization’s new Vice President of Baseball Operations and Gian Carlos Guzmán as general manager.
