Dayán Viciedo smacked two singles in four at-bats this Thursday in his first game of the 2024 NPB season with the big squad, but his effort was insufficient to avoid the 9-4 defeat of the Chunichi Dragons against the Hanshin Tigers at the Vantelin Nagoya Dome. The native of Villa Clara,Cuba who had not seen action until now due to an injury, is hitting .500 to start his time in the Nippon top league.
Viciedo started the season in the minors with the ballclub. In 30 games with the team’s second squad he slashed .316/.386/.526/.913 with three longballs with 12 runs batted and 50 total bases. With Seiya Hosokawa (.309,8HR,23RBI) and Orlando Calixte(.298,3HR,10RBI) being the team’s only legitimate threats at the plate, Chunichi is looking to add a jolt to it’s offense with Viciedo ascension to the big ballclub.
During his nine seasons with Dragons he hits .288 with 138 homeruns, 547 runs batted in and a slash line of .354/.462/.815. Viciedo who has over 1,000 hits in the circuit, while also being a three-time All-Star, two-time elite nine and was the Central League Batting Champion in 2018. Expect Viciedo to get a fair look with Chunichi in order to help their anemic offense.
Slugger @DayanViciedo_66 is the @npb all-time leader in RBIs among Cubans.
Statistics courtesy of @DeportesAndy pic.twitter.com/YwqbvbgBTl
— Cuban Baseball Digest (@CBaseballDigest) April 26, 2024