A little over a year ago, the pitcher Cuban Yariel Rodríguez He was received as a hero in his country by the regime after having participated with the Island in the World Baseball Classic. But days later, he decided to leave sporting slavery to go in search of his dream: to play in the Big leagues.
The decision, like many of those who have escaped the Castro regime in more than 60 years, has been for the better. The right-hander is ready to be one of those almost 400 Cubans to play in the Major Leagues.
However, it has not been an easy road. After defecting from the regime to the Dominican Republic, he received a lawsuit – which he did not process – after the 27-year-old right-hander, who was contracted through the Cuban Baseball Federation with the team of the Chunichi Dragons, in the Japan Professional League (NPB), decided not to return to the Asian nation after the Classic. For that reason, the entity threatened him with a lawsuit for ten million dollars “for damages.”
But now, after a few months, Yariel Rodríguez's phone is surely always active, on and with battery. A reality unrelated to what was happening in his native Cuba and what was shown in the minor leagues, plus the current status of Toronto's starters in MLB, it would only be a matter of time before the right-hander receives the call to the majors.
Yariel Rodríguez, until the time of writing this article, had two appearances in triple A with the Buffalo Bisons, in which he had shown the potential that led Toronto to give him a five-year, $32 million contract.
The Cuban in his first 6.1 innings of work has shown his dominance by striking out 10 and barely having received a hit. Only five batters have reached base, so he had a WHIP of 0.632, below the Major League average.
The original plan with Yariel was three outings in the minors, but given the moment the Blue Jays are going through, seeing him in the Major Leagues beforehand is a possibility.
And Toronto played .500 (6-6) and were in the basement of the difficult Eastern Division of the American League, while Yariel Rodríguez looked intractable with his four-seam fastball averaging a speed of 92.4 miles per hour, which combined with an 82.9 slider, in addition to using the splitter and the curveball as secondary pitches.
The Cuban could be a big help for a Toronto rotation that in its first 12 games had a collective ERA of 5.09.
