Pavel Hernández has signed with the Xiamen Dolphins of Chinese Professional Baseball augmenting the number of Cuban players to 12 and possibly finalizing the amount of players the will participate in the upcoming.
The right-hander becomes another player from the Island to join China’s emerging professional league, further increasing the Cuban presence in the CPB. The Cuban hurler is currently playing in the Italian Professional Baseball League, where he has a 4-5 record, a 3.60 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched.
Hernández has plenty of international experience with the Cuban National team and has also seen action in a number of Caribbean leagues in México and Nicaragua. The pitcher can serve in many roles for the team such as long relief, spot starter or join the actual pitching rotation.
With his addition, the group now stands at 12 Cuban players in the CPB:
DH Alfredo Despaigne (Beijing)
RHP Fher Cejas (Beijing)
RHP Frank Herrera (Beijing)
RHP Yankiel Mauris (Beijing)
RHP Miguel Romero (Beijing)
C Andy Cosme (Beijing)
OF Raico Santos (Beijing)
OF Francisco Martínez (Beijing)
OF Yasiel González (Xiamen)
OF José Noroña (Xiamen)
RHP Andy Vargas (Xiamen)
RHP Pavel Hernández (Xiamen)
The Chinese Professional Baseball (CPB) league launched its inaugural season on January 1, 2026. Organized by Shanghai-based CoolBang Sports, this private, corporate-backed initiative features 6 teams playing across Spring and Summer schedules to boost fan engagement and market-driven professional baseball in China
League Structure and Teams:
Inaugural Teams: Includes clubs like the Shenzhen Bluesox, Xiamen Dolphins, Changsha Want Want Happy, Fuzhou Sea Knights, and Shanghai Dragons.
Roster Rules: Each team carries 30 players, mandated to include a mix of at least 10 mainland Chinese and 10 Taiwanese players.
Operations:
Coexisting alongside the older, state-administered China Baseball League (CBL)
The formation of the league was announced on September 28, 2025. The CPB’s first draft was held on November 26, 2025, during which the five founding teams selected 57 players from Greater China and overseas.
Prominent Taiwanese and international baseball figures were announced to have joined the league, including Lu Wen-sheng, Dae-sung Koo, and Ray Chang, who were selected as managers for the Fuzhou Sea Knights, Shanghai Dragons, and Shenzhen Bluesox respectively.
The league held its first overseas scout tryouts in Miryang, South Korea in May 2026, with roughly ten players entering into contract negotiations with CPB teams.