Sources tell the Cuban Baseball Digest that right-hander Elian Leyva has been elected to the CPBL All-Star Game that will be played at Taichung Intercontinental Stadium on July 29th and 30th against the Taiwanese U-24 national team.
Leyva who sports a 4-0 record in eights starts with the Rakuten has shown that he is the ace of the squad from Chinese Taipei. In 48 ⅔ innings pitched with the Monkeys the righty has a 2.96 earned run average, 1.17 WHIP and has also fanned 40 batters over that span.
El derecho mayabequense @ElianLD de los @RakutenMonkeys ha sido elegido al juego de estrellas en la @CPBL . El partido será celebrado el 29 y 30 de julio en el Estadio Taichung Intercontinental y sera ante el Team Taiwan U-24.#pelotacubana #CPBL pic.twitter.com/fJdeiY2D8Q
— Yusseff305 🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@yusseff305) June 19, 2023
Leyva who pitched 2 ⅓ scoreless innings for Cuba against the Taiwanese World Baseball Classic team the last time he pitched in Taichung earned a win on that and possibly could be the starters for the game.
In the NPB Ariel Martínez (.256,9HR, 24RBI), Liván Moinelo (2-0,0.76,4SV, 33K) and Raidel Martínez (1-1,0.00, 14SV,31K) have very good odds to make the All-Star Game in that circuit. Moinelo and R. Martínez are two of the most dominant relievers in Japan and A. Martínez is statistically within the top 3 designated hitters in the Nippon League.
In the KBO Guillermo Heredia and his league leading .330 batting average is a shoo-in for the circuit’s All-Star Game. The outfielder from Matanzas, Cuba is also third in Korea with 45 runs batted in on the season. Although he started the season later than others, Roenis Elías (3-2,2.90) has an outside shot at making the mid-season classic in the league.