7 Cubans CONFIRMED for Japan, another 3 waiting for signatures

By Jesus Alain Fernandez/ @JesusLCA2017

Despite what happens in the Major Leagues between the owners and the Players Union, and luckily for us, baseball does not stop. Players who play for clubs on the Asian continent are already beginning to arrive and warm their arms.

Apparently it will be another season in which, at least at the start, the eastern leagues have a leading role. And several born in our patio will be protagonists.

With the collaboration of the Japanese Baseball blog, we have prepared the following list of the players who will be participating, until now, in that professional circuit (NPB):

  • Alfredo Despaigne with Softbank: After eight seasons in Japan, the man from Granma must return to the Halcones with whom he has been for five years already. 170 home runs (leader in his league in 2017 with 35), 505 RBIs (also leader in 2017 with 103) and twice in the league’s ideal team (2017 and 2019), are sufficient guarantee for the materialization of the Despaigne reinstated for a new season. As reported Hit The signing of the contract is recently expected in the next few days.
  • Yurisbel Gracial with Softbank: The Crocodiles from Matanzas player is also waiting for the signing of the contract to materialize the reincorporation. In four seasons he has an offensive average of .300 although between 2020 and 2021 he has only seen 106 games (in 2019 he played in 103 games). His best moment was during the Japan Series in 2019 when he was selected MVP of it, just the second Latino in history to achieve that distinction.
  • Adeiny Hechavarria with Lotte: The player from Santiago has already signed for his second season and even though his contribution was not significant offensively, his glove allowed him to earn his return for 2022.
  • Leonys Martin with Lotte: In his two full seasons he has hit 25 and 27 home runs, 226 hits and 166 walks. His offensive average is only .233 but he makes up for it with 179 RBIs. Leonys is a power bat for the Marines.

  • Ariel Martinez with Chunichi: With only 177 official turns at the highest level, the Matanzas player is already in Japan for the new season. Ariel could have had an interesting 2021 but a finger injury took him out of the game when he was hitting the ball well and playing first base.
  • Raidel Martinez with Chunichi: 52 saves and 170 strikeouts in 150 1/3 innings put a price of excellence on his arm. The 97 of the Dragons, whose fastball goes well past his uniform number, has established himself as one of the respected closers in the NPB.
  • Livan Moinelo with Sofbank: In five seasons and 226 games, the coach from Matanzas has achieved 298 strikeouts. His ERA in 2021 was 1.15 based on combining a powerful fastball and the pronounced curve. His signature is also pending but it should be carried out without setbacks.
  • Rangel Ravelo with Oryx: Rangel will seek a spot on the team that competed in the Japan Series. Only seven at-bats in two games in 2021 but his AAA numbers from the Dodgers at the time of the trade put him in excellent shape.
  • Yariel Rodriguez with Chunichi: From Camagüey he will be looking for more opportunities in the first team. This should be the year in which it is consolidated at the highest level. 120 innings in two seasons and 4-8 with a 3.88 ERA is the endorsement achieved so far.
  • Dayan Viciedo with Chunichi: Viciedo is coming for another fabulous season. The most awarded Cuban in Japanese lands has a batting title and hits leadership (2018), twice in the ideal team of the tournament (2018 and 2019) and two gold gloves (2020 and 2021). Among his milestones is being the fourth Latino to win a batting title and the fourth to have multiple gold gloves. Of course, the only non-Japanese player to achieve both combined results.

Dayan Viciedo has resumed training. Upon arrival in Japan, the PCR test came back positive and he was quarantined. I will be training in Nagoya this week and in Okinawa next month. https://t.co/3ZpECh81eB

For the 2022 season, even other players could join. The performance in the Winter Caribbean of Henry Urrutia (MVP of the Dominican Round Robin) and Elián Leyva (Best Pitcher of the Mexican Pacific Arch League in the 2021-2022 season), for example, can generate opportunities for them to get closer to where the sun rises every day. Henry himself has told us “I hope the Asian leagues see what we are doing”.

Also the recent signings of Guillermo García and Frank Abel Álvarez by the Dragones de Chunichi will put them on the way to a more demanding game (although they will debut in the development divisions) and they will be looking for their sporting growth.

We wish to thank the author of this short article for this amazing material

7 Cubans CONFIRMED for Japan, another 3 waiting for signatures