After having a minor elbow surgery the put him on the shelf for the rest of last season in the Nippon League, lefty Livan Moinelo is set to return to action this winter in the Cuban Liga Elite. Sources confirmed to our sister page Pelota Cubana’s Yordano Carmona that the hurler would more than likely pitch for the Cazadores de Artemisa due to the team close proximity to Moinelo’s home province of Pinar del Río as the last step in his recovery and also something to get him in game shape heading into the next season.
SoftBank Hawks’ pitcher underwent surgery in July for osteochondritis dissecans in the elbow of his throwing arm. According to the information provided by Dr. Francisco Montesinos, medical manager of the Cuban baseball commission and federation, the intervention was successful.
Two free bodies were extracted, made up of fragments of bone and cartilage, and the player is doing very well in these first hours of recovery, explained the doctor after the surgery. The next thing will be to wait for the stitches to heal and he is able to travel to complete part of the rehabilitation in Cuba, added the specialist about the road that lied ahead for Moinelo.
The decision to operate was made upon discovering the free bodies in the area, but not because he felt pain that prevented him from working effectively. Moinelo was not be available for the Cuban team during the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago de Chile this November due to the surgery and the needed recovery time.
The Cuban is SoftBank’s setup man and the precursor to closer Roberto Osuna. Moinelo is only the 4th foreign reliever with more than 150 holds in Nippon League history. The diminutive hurler is arguably the best lefty reliever in the Pacific League. On the season the southpaw had 3 wins, 13 holds and five saves all as team’s setup man before being shutdown by the team. In 27 ⅔ innings pitched he has also fanned 37 batters.
Moinelo has been part of the Cuban National Team for close to a decade now and has also seen action in the Pan-American Games, Caribbean World Series and various World Baseball Classics. It was announced that the hurler would convert to a starter and pitching in the Antillean circuit is possibly the first step in this transition.
☑️ Fuentes me comentan que el zurdo Liván Moinelo lanzará en la Postemporada de la II Élite del Béisbol Cubano.
🏹 Presumiblemente lo hará con los Cazadores de ARTEMISA por la cercanía a su provincia (PRI). Recordemos que el zurdo viene de una lesión y esto podría ser una… pic.twitter.com/SbWh0UREqe
— Yordano Carmona (@YordiMLB) December 25, 2023
Here are the excerpts of the interview with the lefty and our sister page Pelota Cubana’s Miguel Rodríguez:
How has the rehabilitation of the injury been, at what point is the recovery?
It has been a very long recovery, I started in Japan, then I came here with Professor Cortina. I was training with him for more than two months until the end of December, doing bullpen, working a lot on the recovery of my arm. I am already fully recovered, you can say I’m at 100% now.
How much has of José Manuel Cortina influenced this preparation?
Very good, very good. Since I was injured, Professor Cortina was talking to the Japanese. I told them that I wanted to come and train with him here, because he is a good coach. He has a lot of wisdom and he has helped several pitchers when they have been injured basically in their rehabilitation.
How do you make the decision to come and reinforce the Artemis Hunters this Postseason?
This arose from the fact that I had commented that if I was already throwing, I wanted to throw a few games here in the Elite League before going to Japan Besides the fact that I didn’t pitch much “this year. I also wanted to pitch here in Cuba and I am going to do it with the Cazadores de Artemisa, simple and plain.
You have some limitations, up to how many pitches can you throw?
We are still discussing this with Yuliesky González.
You were with Randy Arozarena during your development stage as teenagers, how much do you remember those moments and how much have Liván Moinelo and Randy Arozarena changed in the current day?
I still talk to Randy, him and I talk a lot. He comes here, I go there, to me he’s more than a friend he is a brother. We have been together since we were teenagers, we have many stories together and many anecdotes too.
How much has the professionalism of the Japanese League changed your mentality?
It has really changed me a lot, it has made me focus on the fundamental parts of my body. I don’t know everything I have to do, I always have a trainer, but I more or less have an idea of what makes me feel good. Now between coach and I, we usually exchange opinions to reach the best consensus on what works for me.
You also have an excellent friendship with Frank Abel Álvarez, unfortunately he has not been able to debut in the big leagues in Japan yet, what advice would you give him to prevail in one more year of the contract he now has with Chunichi?
What I always told him was to train, that I trained well and that is what he needs to do. He needs to look at what he had last season, the deficiencies he had he needs to add a way to correct them in his daily training regiment. This should be his objective for next season.
What are your goals this Postseason with the Artemisa team and later in the season in Japan.
With Artemisa, I think the first step is to beat Industriales and win the games we need to win to advance to the Final. Then comes the other part, but the first plan is to win to advance.
Do you have a message for the fans of Artemisa?
To the people of Artemisa, tell them that we are here, we are going to fight to be champions. I came here for that, it is a beloved town, Artemisa was part of Pinar del Río too. We are close, thank you very much for such a warm welcome.