Cuba Leaves Cuban-American Players Off 35-Man Roster For 2026 World Baseball Classic: Report

Zach Neto might be interested in playing for Cuba in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but a report indicates the island nation’s staff isn’t interested in having him or other Cuban Americans on the roster.

Neto, who stated his interest in playing for Cuba this coming March this week, and other Cuban American players have been left off the 35-man roster Cuba submitted for the 2026 World Baseball Classic according to an Instagram post by The Baseball Aficionado and Cuban Baseball Digest.

“Cuban-American star Zach Neto — along with other Cuban-American players — has been denied inclusion on Cuba’s preliminary World Baseball Classic roster,” the post states. “For a team with so much talent spread across the world, it’s another disappointing reminder that politics continue to interfere with Cuban baseball, shutting out players who proudly represent their heritage and want nothing more than to wear their nation’s colors.”

Cuba’s full 30-man roster, due in early February, will thus likely be comprised of players residing in Cuba and playing in the Serie Nacional, and Cuban players playing in Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and potentially some players in Major League Baseball, though no formal announcement has been made. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com reported that MLB Players Andy Pagés, Andy Ibáñez, Yoan Moncada, Yariel Rodriguez, Daysbel Hernandez and Lázaro Estrada were on Cuba’s 35-man roster submitted last week.

The news that Neto and other Cuban-Americans apparently won’t be allowed to play for the island comes less than a week after Jim Small, the president of the World Baseball Classic, said that Cuba would be issued visas by the U.S. Department of State to participate in the event.

????????⚾ “Cuba will be on the field in March”

That's what Jim Small, president of the World Baseball Classic, said during the official trophy presentation in Puerto Rico.

???????????? Jim Small confirmed that Cuba will receive the visa to play in the event and that the national team will… pic.twitter.com/2Uw496ukrp

— Cuban Baseball Digest (@CBaseballDigest) November 30, 2025

Earlier this year, a report from Swing Completo indicated that the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, would not allow Major League Baseball players to play for Cuba. The OFAC’s Cuban Assets Control Regulations, which were first issued on July 8, 1963, are the legal mechanism by which the U.S. government enforces its trade embargo against Cuba. Since the start of the trade embargo, Cuba hasn’t sent athletes to compete with a national team who were Cuban-Americans or players with Cuban descent.

Cuban players seeking to sign MLB contracts now must to declare their intent not to return to Cuba, which prevents those players from bringing money earned and goods purchased in the United States back to Cuba, which is illegal under the OFAC’s Cuban Assets Control Regulations.

Faced with a talent drain as hundreds of players have left Cuba for the Dominican Republic and other destinations in recent years, Cuba was no match for the United States in the semifinals at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, falling 14-2 in a lopsided matchup in Miami that was marred by protests inside and outside the ballpark and multiple protestors invading the field during the game.

The 2023 WBC was the first time that Cuba allowed MLB players to play for the national team, with Luis Robert, Ronald Bolanos, Yoan Moncada, Miguel Romero, Roenis Elias, and Andy Ibanez on the roster. The Federacion Cubana Beisbol y Softbol rescinded a policy that prevented Cuban-Americans and Cuban players who did not repatriate to the island to play for the Cuba national team program following the 2023 WBC.

Notably, the MLB players reported by Francys Romero to be on Cuba’s 35-man roster includes Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yariel Rodriguez, who walked away from a contract with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball that was negotiated by the FCBS to sign with the Blue Jays. Players who left Cuba while playing for the Cuba national team or while under contracts negotiated by the FCBS have previously been barred from playing on the national team.

Earlier this year, however, Swing Completo reported comments from one Cuban player who walked away from the national team and would not return.

“I think that all those people who are calling up the players who are [in the United States] and those who are going to the Classic, I think they are the first ones who should respect themselves and not be calling up all of us who are here,” Boston red Sox reliever Aroldis Chapman told Swing Completo in March. “After they have done everything they did to all of us, they want us to go play? I have no resentment about anything. I am simply clear about things.”

Chapman unsuccessfully attempted to defect from Cuba in 2008 and was ostracized. After returning from the 2009 World Baseball Classic, he left the island for good, walking away from the Cuba national team in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He left his family behind in Cuba, including his girlfriend and newborn child. In June, he confirmed his interest in playing in the 2026 WBC — but not for Cuba.

“I didn’t give them 100% of whether I’ll be able to play. Remember that I’m going to be a free agent next season, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I told them that I am available to be within the roster and that, before giving the definitive yes that I am going to play, I need to wait for my next season to come out in the Free Agency,” Chapman said of the possibility of playing for Great Britain. His paternal grandparents came to Cuba from Jamaica while it was a British colony, thus making him eligible.

“I was also contacted by the United States team. Although it was only to know if I was available to play with them if they invited me. It was not official.”

Photo: Yariel Rodriguez #29 of Cuba reacts after his withdrawal in the fourth inning during the World Baseball Classic quarterfinal between Australia and Cuba at Tokyo Dome on March 15, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Kenta Harada/Getty Images)