Pedro Luis Lazo Iglesias (born April 15, 1973 in Pinar del Río Province,

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 ...

) is a top pitcher in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. He is used predominantly as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather d ...

in international competition, although he is a starter in the Cuban National Series, where he plays for

Pinar del Río Pinar del Río is the capital city of Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. With a population of 139,336 (2004) in a municipality of 190,332, it is the List of cities in Cuba, 10th-largest city in Cuba. Inhabitants of the area are called ''Pinareños'' ...

. His fastball has been clocked at 97 mph, and he combined it with a mid-80s slider.

Career

Lazo was part of the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

-winning Cuban teams at the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and

2004 Athens The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

games, and won silver at the 2000 Sydney and

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. He also appeared in the exhibition series between the Cuban national team and the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in 1999. During the World Cup of Baseball in 2005 in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Lazo had 2 wins, 0 losses with 2 saves, a 0.54

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

, and just 7 hits against in innings. He also pitched for

in the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...

in March 2006 and recorded an impressive 5 inning save against

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

in the semifinals matchup. Lazo is the current and active wins leader in the Cuban National Series with 249 wins.

Personal life

His cousin, Raudel Lazo, defected from Cuba to play in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

.Marlins' prospect Lazo unlike iconic Cuban cousin
/ref>

References

External links

* 1973 births Living people Olympic baseball players of Cuba Olympic gold medalists for Cuba Olympic silver medalists for Cuba Olympic medalists in baseball Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Baseball players at the 1995 Pan American Games Baseball players at the 1999 Pan American Games Baseball players at the 2007 Pan American Games 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players Pan American Games medalists in baseball Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Cuba Competitors at the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games People from Pinar del Río Province Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in baseball Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games {{Cuba-baseball-pitcher-stub