<
Yorelquis Hernández one of the last baseball prospects to leave Cuba. FRANCYS ROMERO/TWITTER
Two other baseball prospects leave Cuba and there are already four in March alone
With Danell Figueroa and Yorelquis Hernández, the number of Cuban prospects who have left the country in the first three months of 2022 would rise to ten.
CDD
Santo Domingo 31 Mar 2022 - 14:06 CEST
The Cuban baseball, declared a Cultural Heritage of the Nation in October 2021 , continues to lose prospects. Danell Figueroa and Yorelquis Hernández would be the new baseball prospects to leave the Island for the Dominican Republic to obtain contracts in the Major Leagues , according to what journalist Francys Romero publishes on his blog.
With almost no time difference between one publication and another, Romero reports the departures of these two prospects, 17 and 18 years old respectively, which have been confirmed by various sources.
Figueroa, the younger of the two players, was considered the most developed catcher in his category in the country, explains Romero .
The 6.3-foot, 197-pound man from Matanzas debuted in the current edition of the National Baseball Series with the Matanzas Crocodiles and showed strength by hitting a home run. He also had a chance to show his defensive skills in the nine games he played.
In the last Under-15 National Championship, his offensive line was .296/.474/.380, with six doubles and 13 RBIs, in 97 at-bats.
He also exhibited one of the disciplines in the batter's box, drawing 23 walks and striking out only twice.
In 2019, he was part of the Cuba team that attended the Pan American U-15 in Mexico. Romero points out that several players from that group have chosen to emigrate.
Figueroa was also part of the Cuban pre-selection for the U-18 World Cup , which will take place from September 9 to 18 in South Florida in which Cuba declined to participate . Their departure shows that the decision to sit out of international competition will not stem the exodus of young baseball talent.
On the other hand, Yorelquis Hernández, whom Romero ranked 15th out of the 25 best prospects under 18 in Cuban baseball in 2020 , is already in the Dominican Republic.
He is a right-handed pitcher who debuted with the Avispas from Santiago in the 60th National Series. This season he saw very little action. He showed his skills, both on the mound and in the batter's box.
He participated in the 2017 U-15 Pan American Championship in Cartagena, Colombia with the national team and pitched 11.1 innings, in which he struck out six batters and showed an ERA of 2.38. In the game he won against Panama he did not allow a run for six innings.
In the 2020 youth campaign, Hernández started seven games and won four . His ERA was 2.21 and he had 32 strikeouts in 40 innings. Romero predicts that, with time and the physical development that he should achieve in the next few years, he could throw steadily over 90 miles.
On offense, the man from Santiago led his team with a .352 average in 123 at-bats. He produced 38 hits, including nine doubles.
With Figueroa and Hernández, there are four Cuban baseball prospects who have decided to emigrate in March . Previously, José Abilio Ferrer , 22, from Santiago, and Maykol Valdivia Brown , former captain of the U-15 national team, had done so. During this month Miguel Camacho from Mayabeque arrived in the United States , who left Cuba at the beginning of February.
So far this year, ten young prospects of the Cuban national sport have left the country , not counting players who do not classify in the category of prospects and have also decided to leave Cuba and try their luck in other professional leagues.
The Cuban authorities are aware that the best baseball players in the Greater Antilles are out or looking for a way to leave, and they will have to turn to them if they aspire to regain seats in the ranking of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) . .
One of the evidences of the debacle of Cuban baseball in recent years was Cuba's exit from the top 10 of the WBSC in June of last year.
These outings are added to those of athletes from other disciplines such as boxing, sailing and athletics, which confirm an unquestionable truth: the link to state sports has less and less to offer the young talents of the Island.
The fact that these baseball players leave Cuba without leaving delegations during events abroad would allow the regime to call them up for the national teams in the future, while continuing to discriminate and deny entry to the country to those who have fled in international tournaments.
