Little by little, the enormous details woven by the Cuban Liván Moinelo during the most recent season of the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB), which had him as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Pacific division.
The 29-year-old left-hander led the SoftBank Falcons’ starting staff towards the reconquest of the throne in the 2025 Japan Series. And along that route, the Pinar del Río native has won various awards until achieving something unprecedented so far this century.
The Japanese portal Baseball King reminds us today that Liván Moinelo is the only foreign pitcher to finish 2 seasons of the #npb in the 21st century with an effectiveness less than 2.00.https://t.co/n5L5ZWasxr pic.twitter.com/iQzDzdFTqK
— Japanese Baseball.com (@beisboljapones) December 27, 2025
According to report the Japanese Baseball specialized site, Moinelo has been the only pitcher who during the last 25 years has sealed two NPB seasons with an ERA of less than 2.00 earned runs per game.
The low returner, who posted a record of 12-3, finished last regular season with an average of 1.42, the lowest in the entire Japanese circuit, and lower than the 1.88 achieved during the 2024 campaign.
To get an idea of how complex it is to achieve such a performance, it is enough to say that in the aforementioned period only four other pitchers born outside of Japan have performed this feat.
The publication specifies that the Americans Anthony Kay (1.74 in 2025), Miles Mikolas (1.92 in 2015) and Kris Johnson (1.85 in 2015) appear on that list, along with the Taiwanese Wei-Yin Chen (1.54 in 2009).
Of that group, only Chen, Johnson and Moinelo led the effectiveness section in the season, which makes them the only ones with that double condition.
For a greater understanding of the legacy that Moinelo is leaving in top-level baseball in Japan, it should be noted that at the moment he is one of the seven foreign starters who have led the effectiveness department during an NPB season, in addition to the only one who achieves it more than once.
Another milestone for Liván Moinelo in Japanese professional baseball
Successful conversion
Liván Moinelo’s journey through Japanese baseball has been a story of constant success that has put him on the direct path to becoming one of the most outstanding foreign players to have gone through the demanding circuit.
The man from Pinar del Río landed in the Land of the Rising Sun to wear the jersey of the Fukuoka franchise in the 2017 season, thanks to a contract under the auspices of the Cuban Baseball and Softball Federation (FCBS).
For seven seasons he established himself as one of the most reliable middle relievers in the tournament, reaching the figure of 135 holds and establishing a balance of 18 victories and nine defeats, according to the official statistics of the NPB.
However, the team’s management identified the potential to make him a successful starter and the risky move, with a million-dollar contract, has been a resounding success.
Since 2024, Moinelo has headed the Falcons staff, bringing to his locker a record of 23-5 and an impressive ERA of 1.80 throughout the nine seasons in which he has remained active.
Baseball: record millionaire contract for Liván Moinelo in Japan
His performances have led him in two times to the All-Star Game and to deserve several distinctions, such as the award for Best Latin Player of the season (2020 and 2024), an award established in 2010 to recognize the player from that geographical area with the best performance during the year.
With his recent designation as MVP of the Pacific League, Moinelo became the fourth Latin player to win the award, and the first since 2009, when Venezuelan Alex Ramírez won it for the second consecutive time. The others were also dark-skinned Roberto Petagine (2001) and Alex Cabrera (2002).
