“My confidence is sky-high right now.”

“I’m Cuban and I always will be.”

“When the season is finished, you see how all the Venezuelans, the Puerto Ricans, the Dominicans all go home. We don’t.”

“I’m never going to be able to come back. I’ll get shot if I go back.”

“Pitching in the Olympic Games, Pan Am Games and Central American games prepared me to pitch at the big-league level.”

“The day I pitch, I feel confident I can stop the other team.”

“Sometimes I just stand on the beach and look at the water, and Cuba feels so close it’s unbelievable.”

“Don Cooper is an incredible person. He’s not only a great pitching coach, but he’s a great human being and a great friend."

“It’s amazing how everything here seems like it’s in abundance. In Cuba, there is a shortage of everything.”