Pinar del Río, Cuba native Erly Casanova will don the colors of Parma Baseball for his fifth season during the 2026 season of Italy’s Serie A Oro. This circuit represents the highest tier of the sport in the European nation. His contract renewal was announced by the club on its social media channels—a widely anticipated move that has generated high expectations for the organization.
This excitement is more than justified when examining his overall performance with the squad. In his four previous seasons with Parma (2018–2019, 2024–2025), the son of Cuban legend Luis Giraldo Casanova has served as the ace of the pitching rotation and a pivotal figure in the championship title won by the squad in 2024.
Over his career pitched in 65 games—62 of them as a starter—posting an outstanding winning percentage of .708 (34-14), along with two saves. Over 365.2 innings pitched, his ERA stands at 2.29, featuring seven complete games and four shutouts.
He boasts a strikeout rate of more than one per inning—totaling 385 strikeouts—while limiting his walks to a mere 105. These figures contribute significantly to an opponent batting average of just .225 and a WHIP of 1.12. Given such statistics, it is easy to understand why Erly’s return to Parma ranks as one of the best pieces of news the team could possibly receive.
In Cuba, the hurler compiled a record of 103-91 over the course of 19 National Series campaigns, posting an ERA of 3.29 and racking up 1,031 strikeouts. However, regrettably, all signs point to the fact that his career in domestic competition has come to a definitive end.
It is worth recalling that in 2025, he received an unexpected suspension from the Cuban Federation after signing independently in Italy—a move that, according to officials, constituted an abandonment of his contractual ties with the Pinar del Río team for the National Series. This resulted in his exclusion from domestic competition for one year, followed by an unsuccessful appeal by the pitcher—yet another episode marked by injustice within the realm of Cuban baseball.