Serie Nacional: Lazaro Blanco, the Granma workhorse

Today, we catch up with the Serie Nacional’s most dominant pitcher, Lazaro Blanco.

From 2017-2019 Lazaro Blanco was the most dominant pitcher in the Serie Nacional compiling a record of 33-15. His dominance earned him a contract with the Quebec Capitales, during his time in Canada he had a record of 16-7, ERA of 3.12 and 219 K’s. All this was over the span of two seasons and in 2017 he led the Capitales to a title in 2017.

Blanco was been Cuba’s ace during their Caribbean World Series. In his participation in three editions of the tournament, he has a record of 4-1 and an earned run average of 0.97. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him inducted in the CWS Hall of Fame.

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The crafty righty has been the anchor to the Cuban pitching staff in the World Baseball Classic, Pan-Am Games, Premier 12, and Central American Games.

During his career in the Serie Nacional mostly with the Granma Sorrells, Lazaro Blanco has won 102 games. Being so highly decorated has earned him a contract with the Saltillo Saraperos, but that has been postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

At the beginning of your career, you struggled, what adjustments did make to become such a dominant pitcher?

Yes that is true I did struggle to start my career, but after that, I altered my motion and changed my delivery. Changing my delivery made me awkward to hitters and made me the pitcher I am today. I never gave up on myself and because of that, I was able to triumph.

You won back to back titles in Cuba and won another in Canada, which championship was sweeter?

Winning a Serie Nacional title was the most important event of my career because we brought Granma its first title. Now winning a title with Quebec was just as sweet because it was my first championship as a professional.

You pitched a lot in 2018, how did you keep your healthy that season?

I kept up my daily regimen and kept up my pitch counts. Because of that, I was able to stay healthy that season and it showed in my performance in the Caribbean World Series.

You signed to play in México, how are you preparing for that?

Well as of right now there is no preparation but hopefully, everything will start back up soon so I can debut in México.