Roger Machado

Roger Machado Morales

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 194 lb.

• Born March 31, 1974 in Morón, Ciego de Ávila Cuba

BR Register page

Biographical Infomation

Roger Machado was a member of the Cuban national team for several years and won a Gold Medal in the Olympics with them.

Machado never led the Cuban Serie Nacional in any offensive department; through 2004-2005, his career batting line in 12 seasons for the Ciego de Avila Tigers was .269/.311/.401. He hit .284/.367/.445 in 2005-2006 and .274/.324/.394 in 2006-2007 to end his career. His big year was 2003-2004, when he posted a batting line of .366/.402/.530 and was fourth in the Serie Nacional in average behind Osmani Urrutia, Yoandry Urgellés and Michel Enríquez. Known primarily for his defense, he had thrown out an amazing 323 of 550 attempted base-stealers through 2004-2005 for a 41.3% opponent steal rate. Only one other Cuban catcher had thrown out over 100 runners with a better success rate.

Roger debuted for the national team in the 1999 Baltimore Orioles-Cuban National Team Exhibition Series. His first appearance in a major tournament was the 2002 Intercontinental Cup, going 0 for 4 with two runs as a backup to Ariel Pestano; he threw out the lone runner who tried to steal against him. He played in the 2003 Pan American Games and 2003 Americas Olympic Qualifier. In the 2003 Baseball World Cup, Machado went 1 for 5 as Pestano's backup.

Machado remained with Cuba for the 2004 Olympics, backing up Pestano once again. He did not bat in the Summer Games, catching two innings and pinch-running once. He still got a Gold Medal for the work of his teammates, led by Pestano's .514 average. He played slightly more in the 2005 Baseball World Cup, going 1 for 2. He was on Cuba's roster for the 2006 World Baseball Classic but did not get into a game. That was his swan song as a player for Cuba's national squad.

He became manager of Ciego de Ávila right after his playing career ended; in 2008-2009, he led them to the best regular season record in Cuba before they fell in the playoffs. He managed Cuba in the 2009 World Port Tournament. The team finished first but unfortunately for Machado, the headlines went to Aroldis Chapman, who defected from Cuba at the start of the event.

Machado managed Ciego de Ávila to its first two titles, in 2011-2012 and 2014-2015. He piloted Cuba in the 2015 Pan American Games, when they won a Bronze Medal. He also managed the Cuban national team in the Can-Am Association in 2016 and 2017. After a long run at the reins of Ciego de Ávila, he was replaced following 2019-2020 by Yorelvis Charles.

Year-By-Year Minor League Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
2016	Cuba	Can-Am Association	11-9	4th	Independent Leagues	not eligible
2017	Cuba	Can-Am Association	5-16	7th	Independent Leagues	not eligible

Primary Sources

• Defunct IBAF site
• Japanese Wikipedia entry
• 2005 Baseball Almanac
• 2005 Guia Official de Beisbol

Related Sites

• Olympics-Reference page