Defector Enjoys Life And Baseball in U.S.

PORT ST LUCIE, Florida -- Rey Ordonez did not elude Cuban officials and jump that fence in Buffalo last summer, leaving his wife and son behind, just because he knew he would be a prized baseball player in the United States.


It was, of course, important to have the chance to test his ability to chase down major league ground balls in the hole at shortstop and to see if he could hit big league pitching.


But it was essential, he said, to be able to speak freely and not to be constantly shadowed by Cuban government officials, wanting to make sure its best athletes stayed on the island.


Ordonez was with the superb Cuban national baseball team -- a long-time Cuban national treasure -- last summer in Buffalo for the World University Games, when he defected.


"I had been planning it for two or three months," said Ordonez after a recent session in the indoor batting cage at the New York Mets' minor league complex here.


Ordonez, signed by the Mets in a special draft this year, said he had arranged, through recommendations from family friends, for a Miami, Florida, man active in helping Cubans defect to be waiting for him on the other side of the fence.


"It was an off day and all the other athletes were at lunch," Ordonez, 22, said through an interpreter. "I didn't eat and when no one was too close to me, I jumped the fence. It was like that one," he added, pointing to one of the chain-link fences that enclose the baseball diamonds.


The man was waiting for Ordonez in a red Cadillac near a cemetery.


"I didn't leave because of baseball. I wanted my freedom, just like anybody else," said the slender, soft-spoken Ordonez.


In Cuba during the past couple of years, he said, "Little by little things got worse. It became stricter and stricter."


His biggest surprise after defecting was "the freedom overall. Here, you can talk about the president. You can say you don't like him and there's no problem. I was kind of shocked. I never saw anything like that."


When spring training ends in a couple of weeks, Ordonez, already acclaimed by the Mets as a major league player defensively but needing to work on his hitting, will be assigned to the St. Lucie Mets in the Class A Florida State League, three steps below the big leagues.


The 5-foot-10-inch Ordonez, who seems to weigh less than his listed 77 kilos, played part of last season with the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League where he hit .283 in 60 at bats and fielded 1.000.


In his first workout for the Saints, a team official said Ordonez gobbled up 75 ground balls before missing one. At least one major league scout has said Ordonez is better than most shortstops in the major leagues.


The Mets, understandably, are high on their young prospect.


"It's up to him how fast he moves," said Mets' general manager Joe McIlvaine. "His bat will have to catch up to his defense."


"I just have to work hard," said the soft-spoken, slender Ordonez, adding that there are "plenty of Cuban baseball players who could play in the United States' big leagues if they had a chance."


Ordonez did not want to talk about his wife and infant son, Reynaldo, Jr, whom he left behind in Havana, or speculate on when he might see them again. His father, five brothers and a sister also remain in Cuba.


While Ordonez agrees that he may need to work on his hitting, he certainly doesn't need to build up his confidence.


How long does he think it will be before he plays in the Major Leagues?


"One year," he said, as if it were a well-known fact.