Just 11 days after turning 22, the Cuban receiver Edgar Yoel Quero debuted in Major Leagues on April 17 and fulfilled any player’s dream. In the Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Cienfueguero appeared with Arreos, Peto, Carata and the White Sox uniform to become the Antillean Cartcher number 23 that plays in MLB.
Shortly before, crying, the young man did not find the words to express the emotion of calling the elders. “No way, no way,” he said in the Clubhouse of the Charlotte Knights, Branch of Tiple-A of the White Sox where the present season began. Just from that city he took a direct flight to the city of the winds and in a matter of hours I was already giving what to talk behind the dish.
Elegant, sober and very confident, Quero materialized his premiere in the 8-0 defeat of his team against Athletics. Madero in Ristre failed three times, with punch included, and received a ball. “It’s just a game, the first. I tried to have fun and play hard. It has really been a good experience,” assured The Cuban after finishing the match.
Ambidestro batter with good contact and remarkable discipline, the White Sox have deposited high hopes in it, although they also hope to exploit their intelligence in driving the pitchers. Just in that defense plot he focused his work on the low season: “It is very important for me, I want to help the Pitchers To win games. That’s why I’m here, ”he said.
For Quero, the trip to the elders has been a blessed adventure, in which he has always been very well accompanied by his family. Her mother, Miladys, was in Arizona when her son called her to communicate the news: “You have the bags you come to Chicago,” he said and left her speechless.
Only a few hours later, she together with Guaranteed Rate Field, seeing Edgar in Action. “I wanted me to dawn soon to be here with my child and enjoy this moment. I am very proud, because the road has been long. The most difficult part has been his, we have been supporting it as a family, but it is he who puts the numbers and does things on the ground,” Miladys said.
Quero’s debut has a capital importance for the Cuban Navy in MLB. To have an idea, in the centenary history of the island’s players in the best baseball in the world, the receiver has been the position with less exponents (23), well below the rest of the field stalls.
In addition, with its premiere there are already two Cuban catches who have seen action in this campaign, something that did not happen since 2016, when Yasmani Grandal and Brayan Peña agreed. Now the duo is made up of two rookies, as JC Escarra also lives its first experiences in the major leagues with the New York Yankees.
Where does Edgar Quero come from?
Born in the Cienfueguero municipality of Santa Isabel de las Lajas, Edgar Quero was formed as a receiver in the nearby province of Villa Clara, a prolific land if we talk about receptors, such as the cases of Lázaro Pérez, Alberto Martínez, Ángel López and Ariel Pestano.
With that influence, Quero integrated the national selections of minor categories and in its service sheet he registered two international events with the Cuba team.
First, he participated in the U-12 World Cup held in Taipei in China, in 2015. There he averaged for .267 with four hits in 15 shifts (three of them doubles) and struck out three times. On the defensive, five errors, a Passed Ball And he captured two rivals in the tenchadillas of ten who ran, something that adjusts to the characteristics of the theft of bases in the category.
Then, in 2018 he participated in the U-15 World Cup held in Panama, where another Edgar Yoel was already seen. In the Istmeña Earth, he averaged .400 (15-6, a double, four scored and six pushed, five tickets, three balls and never went to the bank by the route of the Strikes). On the defensive he did not make mistakes, two stole and three paid the price of wanting to win an extra base. He integrated all the stars of the tournament.
In 2019, Quero left Cuba in search of the dream of playing in the best baseball in the world. For a while, his trail was lost while looking for development in the Caribbean Baseball Academies, but in February 2021 he agreed with Los Angeles Angels for a sum of 200 thousand dollars during the international signatures period.
Edgar bases its offensive value on contact, although the combination of speed and exit angle of its batches provides excellent probabilities to consistently produce strongly. In addition, it beats both hands, an advantage in the modern game to avoid the special defensive formations.
Seeing him from the defensive side, his arm is strong. We have seen you throw the initial knees with strength and without a significant effort. In his passage through the minors, he captured 110 of the 449 men who went to theft, for 25 % effectiveness, so there is still space to grow.
In its transit at these lower levels, it has added more than 300 games in which more than 200 races has scored and towed, with PAHO of .849. The White Sox arrived in 2023 as part of an exchange with the Angels. Precisely, the fact of belonging to a franchise in full reconstruction increased its possibilities of being called to the elderly, although endorsed by its excellent projection at the lower levels.
In 2024 it was the Best receiver of the Southern League, fruit of 16 homers, 70 pushed and 32 extrabases. In double-a, wearing the Birmingham Barons flannel, left excellent averages for the .275/.360/.463 league and an OPS of .849, with 12 home runs and 53 driven. When it amounted to Triple-A it was no less, because it left.
Thanks to this performance, in the last week of the last Quero campaign he was in the Taxi Squad From the South Chicago franchise, a small step of playing in the Great Tent. That jump has taken this 2025, a contest in which it remains as one of the 100 best valued MLB prospects.
Cuban history behind the dish
On September 28, 1912, for the first time a Cuban shook the harnesses in a major leagues match. The protagonist of the historic event was the young regional Miguel Ángel González, who just debuted in MLB with the Boston Braves uniform in a duel against the New York Giants.
With only 22 years, “Mike”, as he was always known in the baseball universe, lived his only experience with the Boston uniform, because later he would move to Cincinnati for the 1914 season. However, the main successes of his career in the United States harvested them with the St. Louis Cardinals, the New York Giants and the Chicago Cubs between 1915 and 1932 He crowned World Series champion twice (1921 and 1931).
A total of 946 challenges and 2955 appearances to the dish accumulated the habanero with these three franchises, mainly performing as a receiver. In all its major league trajectory, it covered the harnesses in 867 meetings, the third largest amount for a Cuban Cartcher in MLB, and left an average defensive of .980 after 6464 Innings of work in position.
González was always recognized for his great ability to get circulation runners. To have an idea, in his 17 years of career, 997 men came out to theft and captured 463, for a high 46.4 % effectiveness, above the league average at that time. From 1924 to 1928, the mask shone in this regard, as Out put 126 of the 229 scammers that challenged it, for 55 % effectiveness.
After him, another 22 Antillanos have acted as receivers at least once in a MLB match. The list is leaded by Yasmani Grandal, who adds 1114 shocks behind the plate. This could increase this campaign if you receive the call to the main roster of the Boston Red Sox, with whom it signed a minor league agreement only a few weeks ago.
Grandal, twice All Star, has played with the Dodgers, the White Sox, the parents, the Brewers and the Pirates, regularly leaving a mark for their great work in the driving of the pitchers. In addition, it has been recognized for its ability to frame picheos, without ignoring their skills with the wood (977 hits and 194 homers).
Other Cubans who also made a race behind the dish are Joe Azue (868 games as a receiver) and Paul Casanova (811), who added many experiences in major league diamonds in the 60s and 70s of the last century. The others who added more than a hundred matches in the position are Mike Guerra (484), Brayan Peña (437), Eli Marrero (346) and Nelson Santovenia (263).
Of all the island’s players who have seen action with the harnesses, the cases of Bert Campaneris, Giraldo “Chico” Ruiz, Octavio “Cookie” Rojas, Orlando “Marty” Martínez and Manuel Cueto, who performed mostly in other positions.
Campaneris, for example, was always Torpedo, but on September 8, 1965, in a duel between California and Kansas, he became the first player in the history of MLB to cover the nine positions in the same challenge. His experience as a receiver, however, did not end in the best way, because he was injured his shoulder in a collision on the plate.
