Pitcher Yariel Rodríguez broke relations with the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) and abandoned his contract with the Japanese team of the Chunichi Dragons. The journalist Francys Romero confirmed this tuesday that this player is already in the Dominican Republic “seeking to be hired by a team from the Major Leagues” in the United States.
Rodríguez, who just just received the coat of arms of Camagüey and a recognition from the Communist Party for finishing fourth with Team Asere in the World Classic, “will not be subject to the restrictions of international signings for exceeding 25 years and six seasons in international baseball,” the communicator stressed.
“The organizations of the Professional League of Japan know that signing a Cuban through the Federation is always risky,” Francys Romero published in FR Baseball! In the past, pitchers Héctor Mendoza and Andy Rodríguez, outfielders Adolis García and Oscar Colás had already parted ways with their contracts.
Although there is a history of Japanese teams trying to prevent layoffs, such as at the time the SoftBank Hawks did it With Luis Colás, it is difficult for this to happen with Rodríguez.
“The perfect scenario in this case would be for Rodríguez to obtain his release as soon as possible. That way he could apply for free agency faster,” said the Cuban baseball specialist.
“The organizations of the Professional League of Japan know that signing a Cuban through the Federation is always risky,” published Francys Romero
This athlete was part of the list of the best 10 prospects of the World Baseball Classic, according to Baseball America. In this list were players like Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Liván Moinelo and Raidel Martínez, among others. Based on his history, Romero predicts that Rodríguez “would be reaching a multi-year agreement of millionaire figures”, that is to say that “it would be in the range of 50 million [de dólares] for five or six years.”
Born in Camagüey, this baseball player “is for many the best pitcher on the island today”, published Full Swing. “His talent and his conditions could lead him to find an excellent agreement” and he recalled in the same publication that “together with Liván Moinelo and Raidel Martínez, he formed a top-level Cuban triad in Asian baseball.”
In his time in the Professional League of Japan (2020, 2021, 2022) he has an average of 175.1 innings with a high strikeout percentage and is capable of throwing a ball up to 98 miles per hour.
Added to what happened with Rodríguez was the recent escape in Miami from the Team Asere catcher, Iván Prieto. The baseball player “was not in the team that boarded the flight” to Havana and was reported as “low” from the National Team for “abandonment.”
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