Orestes Kindelán

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born November 1, 1964 in Palma Soriano, Cuba

Biographical Information

Orestes Kindelán represented Cuba in three Olympic Games. In 1992, he hit .344 while playing left field. He was Cuba's designated hitter in 1996, batting .432 with 9 home runs in 9 games. In the 2000 Games, he hit .353 with 11 RBIs. Kindelán's career total of 36 RBIs is an Olympic record. In the 1994 Baseball World Cup, Kindelan hit .412/.543/1.000 with 6 homers, 14 runs and 16 RBI in 10 games. He tied Antonio Pacheco for the Cup lead in home runs and tied for third in RBI. He was MVP and Home Run King of the 1997 World Port Tournament, hitting .571/~.640/1.286 with 5 homers, 10 runs and 11 RBI, easily outperforming future MLB player Chin-Feng Chen among others.

Kindelan hit .344/.417/.938 with 10 runs, 15 RBI and 6 home runs in 9 games in the 1997 Intercontinental Cup but Cuba failed to win Gold for the first time in a major event in 15 years. He tied Greg Jelks for the home run lead and was third in RBI behind Paul Gonzalez and Yoshinobu Takahashi. He made the All-Tournament team at first base.

He was the All-Star 1B in the 2001 Baseball World Cup, hitting .364/.432/.455. Other first basemen in the tourney included Ben Broussard and Justin Morneau.

Kindelán had held the single-season Cuban home run record of 30 from 1986-2008, when Alexei Bell broke it.

In 2012, he and fellow Cuban national team player Yovani Aragón coached for the Pericos de Puebla in the Mexican League; Orestes served as hitting coach. He became manager of Santiago de Cuba in 2017-2018, replacing Reutilio Hurtado. He was 21-24 then was replaced by Eriberto Rosales.

His son Lionar Kindelán played in Cuba and Italy.

Related Sites

International Olympic Committee Bio