Michel Enríquez Tamayo (born February 11, 1979 in

Nueva Gerona Nueva Gerona is a Cuban city, capital of the Isla de la Juventud special municipality and province. As of 2012, its population was 59,049. History The city was founded in 1830 by Francisco Dionisio Vives, who was the Spanish governor of Cuba a ...

, Isla de la Juventud) is a retired

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n baseball

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

man.

Biography and career

Enríquez, who plays third base for Isla de la Juventud in the

Cuban National Series The Cuban National Series (, SNB) is the primary domestic professional baseball competition in Cuba. Formed after the dissolution of the Cuban League in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the Series is a part of the Cuban baseball league system. ...

, led the league in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and slugging percentage in the 2005-06 season, at .447 and .690, respectively. Enríquez is a roster fixture at third base for the

Cuban national baseball team The Cuba national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Cuba'') represents Cuba at regional and international levels. The team is made up from the most professional players from the Cuban national baseball system. Cuba has been des ...

. He holds National Series records for hits (152) and doubles (35) in a season (1999, 90 games), and was part of Cuba's gold medal-winning team at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the second place team at the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He has one brother and one sister. Enríquez was left off of Cuba's roster for the 2000 Olympics, with some speculating fear of defection and others opining that it was due to Michel's youth (still just 21 years old) and lack of experience in international tournaments relative to some of the other available options. He hit .353/.451/.595 in the 2000-2001 Serie Nacional. In 2017, while playing for

Vegueros de Pinar del Río Vegueros de Pinar del Río (English: Pinar del Río Meadow Growers) is a baseball team in the Cuban National Series. Based in the western city of Pinar del Río, the ''Vegueros'' are historically one of the more successful teams in the Cuban Nat ...

, Enríquez collected his 2000th professional hit.

References

* * * 1979 births Living people Olympic baseball players of Cuba Olympic silver medalists for Cuba Olympic gold medalists for Cuba Olympic medalists in baseball Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Cuba Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Baseball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Baseball players at the 2003 Pan American Games 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players People from Nueva Gerona Piratas de Campeche players Isla de la Juventud players Pan American Games medalists in baseball Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Cuba Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in baseball Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games 21st-century Cuban people {{Cuba-baseball-third-baseman-stub