2016 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup MVP Loidel Chapelli named Cuba's Serie Nacional Player of the Week

2016 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup MVP Loidel Chapelli named Cuba's Serie Nacional Player of the Week
28/09/2020
Loidel, 19, was the 2016 WBSC Baseball Player of the Year and played for Cuba in the 2017 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.

Slugger Loidel Chapelli Junior, the MVP of the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2016, was named the first Player of the Week of the 60th Cuba's Serie Nacional, the top baseball league on the island.

Chapelli finished the week of 12-17 September with a .772 batting average. His slugging percentage was .823 and his on-base percentage was .773, resulting in an impressive 1.606 OPS.

Chapelli helped the Cuban National Team win the 2016 WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup. He played first base and went 5-for-5 with three RBIs in the final, which Cuba won, 9-4, against Japan. He went 16-for-36 overall in the tournament with 10 RBIs. For his performance in the U-15 World Cup, he was named the 2016 WBSC Baseball Player of the Year, succeeding Japan superstar Shohei Ohtani, who won the honour in 2015.

A left-handed hitter, Chapelli was born in 2001 and made his Serie Nacional debut for the Toros de la Llanura from Camaguey in the Summer of 2019, two years after playing for Cuba in the 2017 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup, where he hit .296.

Chapelli is a member of a baseball dynasty. His father Loidel Chapelli Jimenez was a productive hitter for Camaguey. He played on the Cuban National Baseball Team and was part of the 1999 team that played the series against the Baltimore Orioles.

Laidel Chapelli, the twin brother of Loidel senior thus the uncle of Loidel junior, also played for Camaguey from 1992 to 2004. After that season he moved to the Italian Baseball League and became an Italian citizen through marriage. Laidel Chapelli helped Italy win the 2010 European Baseball Championship.

Fans worldwide can watch the Cuban Serie Nacional on WBSC's GameTime.Sport YouTube channel.