Andy Pagés is having a magical season in his second big league campaign. The native of Pinar del Río, Cuba was unceremoniously snubbed for the All-Star Game although was slashing .285/.325/.479/.804 with 17 homeruns and 59 RBIs, which leads all Cubans.
Pagés has already surpassed all of his totals from last season and there is still more than half of a campaign left. One important stat that the young outfielder leads all his countrymen is in fWAR. He is ahead of well respected and seasoned veterans such as Aroldis Chapman, Randy Arozarena and Yandy Díaz.
Expect Pagés to only get better with age, especially with the core of talented players around him such as Teoscar Hernández, who has been a big influence in his development over the last two seasons. Also expect him to be a key figure down the stretch for the team from Tinsel Town.
Ex-big league star and Cuban-American Raúl Ibáñez has this to say about Pagés when I interviewed him earlier this year,” He’s doing a great job. I mean, there’s a, there’s a lot of guys I know that he spends a lot of time with, Teo, our hitting guys, Robert Van Scoyoc, Aaron Bates and JT have done a phenomenal job with him as well.”
These are the Cubans who accumulated the most fWAR in the first half of the 2025 MLB season:
1️⃣ Andy Pagés 3.0
2️⃣ Randy Arozarena 2.8
3️⃣ Aroldis Chapman 1.8
4️⃣ Adrián Morejón 1.5
5️⃣ Yandy Díaz 1.5
WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is one of the most comprehensive statistics in modern baseball. In this case, fWAR is the version calculated by Fangraphs, one of the most respected sources in sabermetrics.
What does WAR measure? Summarize a player’s entire contribution to the team in a single number:
✅ Hitting
✅ Baserunning
✅ Defense
✅ Positional value
✅ For pitchers: innings pitched, ERA, control, strikeouts, and opponent quality
A WAR of 2 or more over a half-season indicates a player is performing at a high level. What do you think of these names? Are there any missing that you were hoping to see?