There are more and more Cubans in Japan. The recent signing of Yurisbel Gracial with the Softbank Falcons just a week ago, is now joined by the signing of catcher Ariel José Martínez Camacho and the renewal of pitcher Raidel Martínez, who will be with the Chunichi Dragons.
Raidel Martinez, a lanky reliever from Pinar del Rio, has just left a pleasant impression in the Caribbean Series that concluded in Guadalajara, Mexico, and his return to Japanese professional baseball should contribute to his development.
Gracial, one of the most powerful and complete hitters who remains on the island, had joined a team that not only conquered the Japanese professional baseball crown, but also has three other Cubans: Despaigne, Liván Moinelo and Oscar Luis Colás.
Throughout four National Series with Matanzas, Ariel José Martínez Camacho is batting .309 with 13 homers and 93 runs batted in, and for more than a season the Japanese scouts have had their eye on him and shown great interest.
The Cuban presence in Japan`s professional baseball has experienced bittersweet moments, although in 2017 Alfredo Despaigne – home run and RBI leader in the Pacific League – and Liván Moinelo were crowned champions with the Falcons.
It should be noted that Alex Guerrero became the first Cuban to become the leader in home runs in the Central League, and Despaigne the third Cuban to do so in the Pacific League, along with Orestes Destrado -on three occasions- and Michel Abreu.
These three players were also joined in 2017 by the names of Raúl Valdés (Chunichi), Dayán Viciedo (Chunichi), Yadir Drake (Nippon Ham) and Roel Santos (Lotte); while other young players were polished in the Minor Leagues such as Colás (SoftBank), Leonardo Urgellés (Chunichi) and Martínez (Chunichi).
The signing of Ariel José Martínez Camacho, just 21 years old, and the renewal of Raidel Martínez brings the number of Cubans with the Dragons to five -together with Dayán Viciedo, Onelki García and Leonardo Urgellés- to surpass the four of the Falcons.
In the recent past there have been experiences of all kinds, such as the poor performance of the stellar Frederich Cepeda (Yomiuri) and the novel Héctor Mendoza (Yomiuri), mostly due to injuries, and the excellent performance of Yuli Gurriel (Yokohama), who in the 2014 season hit .305.
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