CONFESSIONS of Josuan Hernández: From the Industrialists to a protagonist in Mexican baseball

By Jesús Alaín Fernández

A voice laden with nostalgia. That is what I received from the other end of the phone. A man who with his feet on the ground, living in the moment without forgetting the past, tries to connect with the future dreamed of. The interlocutor, Josuan Hernandez, the current third baseman for Cañeros de los Mochis in the Mexican Pacific League.

The above story is known. Ecuador as the first stop and then Mexico, the second homeland. Putting your heart into daily training and feeling that you did well in the tryouts and not receiving any call back with a proposal. Going from being a full-time catcher for years to playing shortstop, outfielder and now third baseman on highly competitive circuits. Go through the Covid 19 and keep saving everything that in the aftermath it can give you, except the necessary strength to impose itself in the daily game.

But every time it rains, it clears. Morning is never closer than when the night grows dark.

Finally the new opportunity arrives. Start the Bow League and with it Josuan begins to have a year that seems to be for oblivion, but not for forgetting what he is doing, if not for forgetting how difficult the road has been. Then it is necessary to talk about the keys to change.

“In professional baseball, taking advantage of the offseason is what allows you to perform well later. The preseason training is approximately one month only, so the better you report, the more chance you have of doing it well ”, as he told us when we asked him about his preparation to see how he is looking today. “I worked a lot on speed, strength, always trying to stay in shape and arrive as well prepared as possible.”

@ josuanhern5516 giving everything for @greenxsiempre I hope this year they don’t think of lending it for half a year😒
Feel the green flannel like few others

– The Yankee Cañero (@ElYankeeCanero) October 24, 2021

Los Cañeros de los Mochis are already a second home for the Cuban of pure strain, who does not lose neither the accent nor the words that place him sentimentally in the heart of his Havana. “The arrival in Cañeros was good, I’ve been here for several years and they know me well. My mind is victorious and I come to win a position and, as I was saying, take advantage of the preseason time to adjust everything ”.

Stick of @ josuanhern5516
Firewood cane pic.twitter.com/GaSsl4iBhL

– PirruPicks Official (sports betting) (@PirruPicks) October 24, 2021

And it is that Josuan is a man with his feet on the ground. “My objectives, first to contribute to my team and to put good numbers that allow us to continue advancing. Cañeros has the goal of reaching the playoffs in 2021. Once there, everyone starts from scratch. The level and the names of the sets don’t matter so much anymore. We have been since I arrived in two semifinals, in both we have played until the seventh game, which generates mixed feelings because it frustrates having come so close ”.

Despite the stumble-laden start that puts them at the bottom of the standings at 4-12 for Josuan, it all depends on picking up the pace. “We have a young team that projects very well, we can be among the eight and then start from scratch to fight for the championship. There is potential, young and experienced. The only thing missing is that things turn out well for us on the field and build a positive streak ”.

But he also has dreams at the height of the sky. “Although the future is uncertain, the desire to play in the best baseball in the world has not been lost on me. God knows what is destined for each one and my task is to continue playing hard and giving 100%. The result is in your hands. In two years I will take whatever comes with the greatest enthusiasm. Baseball can end suddenly due to injury, so the most important thing is to enjoy the day to day. But without a doubt who takes away that tomorrow he can be in another league ”.

The former Green Force third baseman is averaging in the first 16 games of the season for .311 and an .846 OPS. The three homers already connected and the three bases ripped off (equaling his best season in the LMP) prove he wasted no time at the break. “I feel good, physically and defensively. I have settled into the third and even though I have been moving in the lineup, the contacts have arrived. It helps me a lot to be in communication with my mind and my body. Knowing where everything is going and what it can contribute to me ”.

But when I was preparing to talk with Josuan Hernández, I found something on his social networks that forced me to mark a question for closing.

I wrote this, I decided to upload it today, happy Sunday. pic.twitter.com/FDWEesDWN4

– JOSUAN HERNANDEZ (@ josuanhern5516) September 19, 2021

“My family is small in Cuba, my mom, my dad and my brother.” And here the man pauses, surely not because the oxygen in his lungs prevents him from doubling down to get the extra base. Now the words come softer, as if without thinking, as if they came from the heart. “Parental support is vital, taking off a thing they couldn’t enjoy just to see me make a dream come true. I’ve never forgotten that. Every day I repeat it to him, that everything he achieves is thanks to his effort and sacrifice ”.

Josuan is playing his fourth season in the Mexican Pacific League. So far he is putting the best numbers of his career and becomes the horse that helps to pull the sugar mill. Josuan and his Cañeros go to the future and confident that God has many great things in store for them on the road.