The promising Cuban baseball player Yandro Hernández achieved a contract in the United States Major Leagues (MLB), after just 30 days of leaving Cuba.
Hernández was a prominent member of the island’s under-18 national team, son of Industriales hitter Stayler Hernández, who joined the Cuban national team in 2015, during the Premier 12 edition.
His enormous talent for the game and the prior knowledge that scouts already had of him opened all the doors for him, and he did not need to be a free agent for the Minnesota Twins to offer him a deal for $800,000. The signature and the bonus money will be yours once the free agency procedures are concluded.
According to journalist Francys Romero, the young talent bats both right-handed and left-handed, and has advanced skills at both ends of the batter’s box.
“I ranked Yandro as the best hitter for average of the U-18 category of Cuba in 2023,” said the journalist.
His talent was evident during his participation in the World Cup in La Paz, Mexico, where he demonstrated his skill at bat, achieving an average of .357.
His final year as a junior in Cuba was equally impressive, leading in batting with a .463 average, standing out in hits y slugging.
With this guaranteed success in the Cuban national team, emigrating was not an easy decision, as he was risking what he already had secure on the Island, becoming the eighth member of the under-18 team to do so.
In the last six years, Cuba has seen an exodus of its baseball players, with more than 635 athletes leaving the country, even without having a secure contract elsewhere, and some without even continuing to dedicate themselves to baseball.
Both the growing economic crisis on the Island, which prevents them from living a dignified and deprived life despite being “stars” of the national sport, and the growing opportunities for sport in the United States, are part of the motivations that the players have for leaving the island. Island.
— nightniebla (@nightniebla1) February 17, 2024
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