The Baseball Federation of Puerto Rico announced that Hector Purito Rivera would manage the U-12 National Team in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup Americas Qualifier.
"This position rewards me for the countless years I spent working on this age bracket," commented Rivera. "We scouted 170 kids and believe Puerto Rico will be well represented."
Rivera has played for 25 seasons in the National Double-A League for the Leones de Patillas franchise. He has coached U-12 kids since 2001 and has previous coaching experience on the U-12 and U-18 National Team staff.
WBSC Americas will hold its WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup Qualifier from 19 to 28 May in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Eleven National Teams confirmed their participation: the U-12 defending World Champions and World No. 2 USA, No. 3 Mexico, No. 6 Venezuela, No. 7 Cuba, No. 10 Dominican Republic, No. 11 Puerto Rico, No. 14 Panama, No. 15 Colombia, No. 24 Brazil, No. 22 Curaçao and No. 43 Honduras.
The tournament will qualify four teams for the VII WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup, scheduled from 28 July to 6 August 2023 at Tainan's Asia-Pacific International Baseball Stadium.
