Only three Cuban ball players (Yoenis Céspedes, José Abreu, Alexei Ramírez) have gone straight to the major leagues without have to grace the minors. Not only in my opinion, but the opinion of many scouts, there are two more Cubans that could make this jump. They are pitchers Raidel Martínez and Liván Moinelo.
Yariel Rodríguez was a pitcher that could have made the jump straight to the majors but his inactivity and an injury in spring training prevented that. Moinelo and Martínez are more talented in the eyes of many based on sheer pitching ability. To date teams salivate when these two names are mentioned to them.
Moinelo agreed to a four-year contract extension with the SoftBank Hawks, reportedly worth 4 billion yen (approximately 26.4 million USD). This deal comes as Moinelo’s current contract was going to expire after this season, marking a significant commitment from both player and team. Moinelo, considered as one of the premier relief pitchers in Japan, transitioned to a starting role this season.
In 26 innings this season he sports a 1-1 record with 1.73 ERA, 22 strikeouts and 0.73 WHIP for the team from Fukuoka. The left-hander is only the 4th foreign reliever with more than 150 holds in Nippon League history. The diminutive hurler was arguably the best lefty reliever in the Pacific League last season. In 2023 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.
🇨🇺Livan Moinelo (28) 2nd career start:
6 IP l 0 H l 0 ER l 3 BB l 6 SO
Moinelo has pitched a total of 14 innings in his first two career starts.
Before transitioning to a starter, his longest outing as a relief pitcher was 3 innings back in 2018pic.twitter.com/CB7QuDbUMO
— CubanBaseballZone 🇨🇺⚾️🌎 (@CubanBaseballZN) April 6, 2024
Martínez is the NPB’s premier closer. This season the hurler has saved seven games and in 10 innings pitched has yet to give up a run. Last year he finished with an ERA of 0.39 after only allowing two earned runs in 46 ⅔ of work on the campaign. Out of the 31 hits he allowed last season only two left the yard. No pitcher has saved more games in Japan over the last three years.
The “flamethrower” from Pinar del Río has struck out 62 opposing batters the season that amounts to an average the of 11.96 strikeouts per nine-innings. To his credit, he only allowed four walks in 2023, demonstrating how much he has matured as a pitcher. His Achilles heel when he arrived in Japan was his control.
During his time in the land of the rising sun Martínez has a record of 12-15, 1.78 ERA and has saved 130 games during his seven seasons in the Nippon League. In 262 ⅔ innings pitched in the Asian circuit Martínez has struck out 302 batters, has a 0.91 WHIP and a S0/9 10.3.
Impresionante lo que está haciendo el cubano Raidel Martínez en Japón.
Nros. 2023 👇🏽
🔹 32 IP
🔹 .197 AVG
🔹 0.78 WHIP🔹 0.00 ERA
🔹 0.42 FIP
🔹 0.81 xFIP🔹 38.6% CSW
🔹 34.8% WhiffHa ponchado al 38.3% de los bateadores que ha enfrentado, con una tasa de boletos de 1.7%. pic.twitter.com/23nW3sWDE0
— Béisbol 108 (@Beisbol108) August 2, 2023