Which ballplayer was given the nickname "El Titan de Bronze" by Fidel Castro?

The ballplayer Fidel Castro nicknamed “El Titán de Bronce” was José Contreras, the Cuban right-handed pitcher. The Spanish phrase means “The Bronze Titan” and connected Contreras with Cuba’s celebrated military hero Antonio Maceo.

Castro reportedly bestowed the nickname on Contreras because he was Cuba’s ace pitcher and had performed impressively for the national team. The original Bronze Titan was Maceo, a leading commander in Cuba’s wars of independence against Spain. Contreras therefore received a nickname carrying strong national and historical symbolism, not merely a description of his physical strength.

Contreras was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, in 1971. He defected while traveling with the Cuban national team in Mexico in 2002 and later signed with the New York Yankees. He made his Major League Baseball debut in 2003, then became best known in the United States as a member of the Chicago White Sox.

With Chicago, Contreras helped win the 2005 World Series, ending the franchise’s championship drought. He started Game 1 of that Series against the Houston Astros. The nickname is sometimes associated with Antonio Maceo alone, but in this trivia question it refers to its later use for the Cuban baseball star José Contreras.