C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Raisel Iglesias’ smile needed no interpreter.

The Reds’ right-hander sat at his locker at the Reds' spring training home Tuesday and watched ESPN’s coverage of the Tampa Bay Rays in Havana, Cuba. His eyes hardly looked down at the iPhone in his hand, instead he stared at the TV with a smile on his face.

“I believe this is something incredible happening today,” he said when Tomas Vera, a Reds athletic trainer, did interpret. “It’s good for the people from Cuba as well as the same players that are going to be a part of the game today and the players that are here in this country, for us, it is something incredible. It’s something beautiful. I’d love to be a part of that now.”

Iglesias, 26, hasn’t seen his father since he left Cuba in 2013. He established residency in Haiti, signed with the Reds in 2014 and made his professional and big-league debuts in 2015. One of three Cubans on last year’s team, he is now the lone Cuban on the Reds’ big-league roster following the trade of Aroldis Chapman and Brayan Pena’s departure via free agency.

Pena was one of eight big leaguers to visit Cuba in December as part of a contingency sent by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association. That is a trip Iglesias hopes to make someday.

“Going back to your homeland and play against the national team of Cuba, it would be something incredible,” Iglesias said, according to Vera. “It is something that players like me would love to be part of the national team or play against the national team.”

Iglesias played for the Cuban national team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic and also played for Isla de la Juventud in Cuba’s Serie Nacional.

Iglesias holds onto hope that he can once again play for the Cuban national team, a dream that seemed nearly impossible when he left the island in 2013, but is closer to a reality today, especially with a Major League team playing in Cuba and the President of the United States also in Havana.

As the Rays played the Cuban national team on Tuesday, Iglesias was more familiar with the Cuban team that the Rays. He said he’s played either with or against most of the players on the Cuban national team. He’s also kept in touch with most of his friends on those teams when they travel outside of Cuba.

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“When they come to other countries, they have access to the internet, so we have the opportunity to talk through Facebook, Instagram and all that,” Iglesias said, according to Veras. “I have a really good relationship with all the guys on the team. They’re really good people.”

The Reds have a long history with Cuban players, dating back to 1911 when Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans played in Cincinnati. But the team’s most visible link to Cuba is Hall of Famer Tony Perez, whose son Eduardo was part of the ESPN coverage of Tuesday’s game in Havana. Because of the connection to the Reds, Iglesias has gotten to know the entire Perez family.

Last year, the elder Perez was honored with a statue outside Great American Ball Park and Iglesias said he got to sit down and talk with him for about an hour.

“He’s a great person, a great player,” Iglesias said, according to Vera. “In Cuba, you know who he is. When you achieve that glory in the sport, you’re always going to be recognized — everyone is going to know who you are.”

Iglesias, of course, went about his regular business of getting ready for the Major League Baseball season on Tuesday, but admitted he’d drop in and check out a TV as much as he could to get a glimpse of his home — a place he hasn’t seen in years — with hopes of returning sometime soon.

“The little I will be able to see, I’ll enjoy,” Iglesias said, according to Vera. “I think it’s going to be a beautiful game."