After knowing the signing of Yulieski Gurriel with the Miami Marlins last Thursday, the South Florida franchise advertisement also the hiring of Cuban shortstop José “Candelita” Iglesias, so they will probably have three players from the island on their Major League roster for the coming season.
Iglesias and Gurriel join patrolman Jorge Soler, who was already a member of the team since March 2022, although last year he played very little due to an injury that limited his time in service to only 72 games and 270 official shifts.
We keep growing! ???
Welcome to Miami, gentlemen: https://t.co/5rOTQv6054 pic.twitter.com/E4CNkHEwGN
—Miami Marlins (@Marlins) March 10, 2023
“Candelita” signed a minor league contract, but he should have options to play in MLB sooner rather than later with the Marlins, who lost their starting shortstop just a few months ago when they traded Miguel Rojas to the Dodgers.
The Antillean shortstop, with 11 seasons of experience in the Majors, was last year in Denver with the Colorado Rockies. In all, he appeared in 118 games and posted a .292/.328/.380 offensive line, with 48 runs scored, 47 RBIs and just 56 strikeouts in more than 460 plate appearances.
Iglesias has played in Detroit, Boston, Colorado, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Baltimore, but he has never hidden his interest in donning the Marlins jersey and getting closer to Miami’s Cuban community. At the beginning of last February, the Antillean said El Nuevo Herald that he would love to be part of a team that wants to win.
Yuli Gurriel and José Iglesias in their #Marlins gear pic.twitter.com/29qupapJnS
—Christina DeNicola (@CDeNicola13) March 10, 2023
“You can see that they want to put a good product on the field (…) I think it is a team that could help a lot both on and off the field. Definitely, there is a real possibility that something will be achieved at some point with God’s favor,” said Iglesias, who is now reunited with an old friend like Yulieski Gurriel.
In addition to Yuli, “Candelita” and Soler, the Marlins have in their organization the services of the brothers Víctor Mesa Jr. and Víctor Víctor Mesa, who have played in the Minor Leagues in recent seasons.
