The commentators of the American networks get into trouble when they are going to pronounce the last name of the Cuban Randy Arozarena. “Ah-row-sah-RAY-nah”, some say with their tongues half tangled, trying to follow the pronunciation guidelines suggested by specialized sites like Baseball Reference.
The exercise is so complicated that many would be delighted if they didn’t have to repeat the surname of the Pinar del Rio night after night. However, the “Ah-row-sah-RAY-nah” is a fixed point in MLB narratives, because one way or another the Tampa Bay Rays outfielder manages to be the protagonist.
With overflowing energy, Randy is a true all-rounder and pops up anywhere, fielding spectacularly in the outfield, bunting, stealing a base or hitting a home run. His virtues have made him one of the favorite superheroes at Tropicana Field, where he has earned the affection and respect of the Rays fans, after landing in the organization as a complete unknown in January 2020.
Regardless of his popularity, Arozarena is one of the fundamental pieces in Tampa’s aggressive and dynamic game, as he has shown in recent days. Since last Sunday, June 5, the Cuban is the Rays player with the most RBIs (seven) and the second player in the American League in this section, only surpassed by the Royals’ Venezuelan catcher, Salvador Pérez (nine).
Randy doubled, tripled and homered this week, scoring three times and posting a .961 OPS, third on his team behind Isaac Paredes (1,108) and Ji-Man Choi (1,063). As if that were not enough, he became the Cardinals’ executioner last Wednesday, when he had three hits and drove in four runs, something that he had only achieved two other times in his career (May 19-20, 2021 vs. Baltimore).
The icing on the cake for his week of luxury came this Friday at Target Field in Minnesota, where he hit an 88-mile fastball from pitcher Devin Smeltzer and hit an infield home run thanks to his devilish speed. Arozarena’s connection hit the right-field fences at 380 feet and landed in no-man’s territory, giving the turn-baseman a chance to fly over the bags and onto the rubber on his feet.
With this hit by Randy, there are already 44 home runs inside the field that have starred 26 Cuban players in the history of MLB. The leader of this list is Bobby Estalella (four), followed by Tony Oliva, José Cardenal, Leo Cárdenas, Bert Campaneris, Tony Taylor and Mike González, all of them with three.
By the way, this week was also special for Randy Arozarena out of the spotlight of the game. Last Wednesday, before the Cardinals-Rays game in Tampa, the Cuban had the opportunity to exchange with Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols, baseball legends and strong candidates to join the Cooperstown Hall of Fame when they retire.
Behind the plate, in a relaxed and animated conversation, the man from Pinar del Rio asked Pujols and Molina to sign several balls for him, and then they took a photo together. Like a child who fulfills a dream, Arozarena could not hide the emotion for the meeting with two of the greatest references in the game in recent decades.
The funny thing is that, that same day, Randy knew how to live up to these stars, and not only because of his performance on the field. During the game, a boy, a fan of St. Louis, threw a ball to the Cuban for him to sign and he took it to the dugout, apparently with the aim of complying with the boy’s wish.
Shortly after, however, Arozarena came off the bench and ran into the depths of left field with a bat in hand, which he sent to the little boy, who was wearing a Yadier Molina Cardinals jersey. The present in question was Randy’s personalized bat with his signature stamped into the wood, accompanied by a small handwritten note from his fist and handwriting that read, “I’ll keep the ball to myself, I liked it. I’m sending you this bat in return and a ball, enjoy it.”
Yordan Álvarez, the best hitter in MLB?
A Article by David Adler published this week on the official MLB website drops that the Cuban Yordan Alvarez He is the best hitter of the moment in the Major Leagues. The sentence, as much as this dazzles the eyes of Cuban fans, is still risky due to the mere fact of such a confluence of offensive stars in the Big Show.
Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Ronald Acuña Jr., José Ramírez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Byron Buxton, are some of the players who shine with the wood and could perfectly dispute the title of best hitter from baseball to Las Tunas phenomenon. However, David Adler has sufficient arguments to defend Yordan’s candidacy.
* 65.2% of Cuban connections are considered hard-hit (with an exit speed of 95 miles or more), absolute leader of MLB in 2022. That percentage, in addition, is the tallest achieved by any Major League player in the Era Statcast (from 2015 to date).
* Álvarez has the power to get the ball out of any area of the field. In 2022 he has hit eight homers to right field, six to center and three to left.
* The man from Las Tunas has achieved bat effectively against all kinds of pitches. Their slugging it’s over .500 against fastballs (.500), breaking balls (.745) and changeups (.810).
These are just small pieces of evidence that play in favor of Yordan, a 24-year-old boy who can still grow much more and mark a new era in the best baseball in the world.
For now, in the midst of the expectation that this article has aroused and his new contract with the Astros, signed just over a week ago, Álvarez has responded as only he knows how. In the last week, he leads all Major League players in hits (ten) along with Marcus Semien, Santiago Espinal and Oscar González, his offensive line (Average / On-base percentage /slugging) was .500/.565/.950, with six runs scored, six RBIs and four extra-base hits. Simply intractable!
After this deployment, the man from Las Tunas is second in the Majors in home runs (17), third in OPS (1,030) and fourth in slugging (.630). Those are numbers which could very well be the best hitter in baseball right now.
Brief notes: lime and sand
Cuba has had a lot of positive news in the current Major League season. Yordan Álvarez’s wild hitting, Néstor Cortés Jr.’s stellar performances on the pitch, Cionel Pérez’s good work as a reliever, Jorge Soler’s and Adolis García’s power, Yandy Díaz’s and José Iglesias’s phenomenal plate discipline and consistency Randy Arozarena are some of the most relevant stories, but there are others that also attract attention.
For example, we cannot ignore the call-up to the Major Leagues of Dairon Blanco, Yennier Cano, Johan Oviedo and Adrián Morejón, who have raised the number of Cubans this season to 28, just two short of the absolute record (30) for the Island, originally set in 1967 and matched in 2016 and 2019.
* Blanco was promoted with the Royals a few weeks ago, but was later designated for assignment in a move from Kansas that was difficult to understand.
* The Cardinals called up John Oviedo a week ago and in 7.2 innings of work he has struck out eight, although he has given away four walks and they have made four clean ones.
* After a lengthy recovery from surgery on his throwing arm, the up-and-coming pitcher Adrian Morejon, returned to the Majors with the San Diego jersey. The Padres activated the left-hander in the middle of the week and he has already left an effective start: two scoreless innings, one strikeout, 18 pitches and 14 strikes. Hopefully this is the beginning of a new path to glory.
* Yennier Cano he’s been halfway between MLB and the Minors, but this week he got a chance to pitch twice in the series between Minnesota and the Yankees, and he didn’t allow a run in 2 1/3 innings, even striking out Aaron Judge with the bases loaded.
Apart from this good news, there is other not so rosy.
* Yulieski Gurriel, last season’s leading hitter, is hitting just .219 this year, with a meager .271 OBP. His campaign looks a lot like 2020 (cut to 60 games due to the pandemic), when he experienced the biggest slump of his career. Fortunately, the current contest is 162 games and he has time to react.
* Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal and Guillermo Heredia bat below .200, although the most critical numbers are those of the Cienfuegos, who has an on-base percentage of .189. Considered one of the best prospects in baseball a few years ago, it seems that Moncada’s balloon has been punctured. We’ll see if he manages to react.
* Andy Ibanez he hasn’t been able to keep his spot on the Texas roster and has already been demoted to the Minors twice in the last week. The Pinero has a poor .277 slugging percentage and hasn’t weighed in at all on the Rangers’ offense.
* Raisel Iglesias he has lost four games (including one in the last week) and his ERA is a career-high 4.43. During the Angels’ 14-game losing streak, the closer had two.
* When Aroldis Chapman returns from his Achilles tendon injury, he will start at a disadvantage in contention for the Yankees’ closer job. so what has announced mentor Aaron Boone, who prefers to keep Clay Holmes, the best reliever of the season in the American League, in that role. The right has not allowed runs in 26 consecutive starts, has four wins and nine saves. Chapman will have a hard time getting his role back.
* Vladimir Gutierrez He had a promising major league debut last year, but his 2022 season has been a disaster. Six defeats and an ERA of 7.61 in ten presentations are the result of the Pinar del Rio player, who lost his place in the Cincinnati rotation. To top, was placed on the disabled list this week for a pain in the right forearm.
