Major League Baseball (MLB) and other Cuban Players News for the 2023 season. A compendium from several sources
Jul 23
Yandy Díaz homered in Sunday’s loss to the Orioles.
The home run was Díaz’s 14th of the season, which ties a career-high. After going without a homer in 23 games in June, Díaz now has two in July, which is a far cry from the 12 home runs he hit in the first two months of the season. While the power numbers will continue to be modest with Díaz’s launch angle dropping again, the first baseman has been a solid producer with a .317/.401/.505 line as the Rays’ lead-off hitter.
Oscar Colás with a three-hit day Sunday. Colás went 3-for-5 with a run and a stolen base in Sunday's loss to the Twins. He also had the the fastest OF assist of the year in MLB with a 100.9 mph throw to home plate in the second inning. Colás notched the first three-hit game of his MLB career and stole his first bag since April 8. The 24-year-old is still trying to settle in at the major league level, as he's slashing .233/.227/.279 with two extra-base hits, two RBI, five runs and a 0:16 BB:K 43 plate appearances since being recalled July 4. Colás does not own an everyday role right now but that could change with the White Sox expected to be sellers at the trade deadline.
Raisel Iglesias struck out all three Brewers in the bottom of the ninth for a save Sunday.
Iglesias had some of his best velocity of the year today, touching 97.7 mph on the gun, and he got five missed swings on his 14 pitches. His stuff hasn’t been consistent at all this year, but for one day, he looked like the Iglesias of old. He has a pair of saves over his last two appearances since his July 18 stumble versus Arizona. The right-hander has pitched a perfect inning in four of his eight appearances this month. He's at a 3.94 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 37:9 K:BB with 18 saves in 20 chances over 29.2 innings this season.
Andy Ibáñez went deep Sunday. Ibáñez went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Sunday's 3-1 win over the Padres. Ibáñez and Spencer Torkelson each went deep to power the Tigers to the victory. It was Ibáñez's seventh home run of the season and first so far in July. The utility player has flashed on occasion this year, though he hasn't been an elite offensive option with a .685 OPS across 67 games. Ibáñez should continue to move around the diamond for Detroit.
Néstor Cortés allowed one run over 2 1/3 innings in a rehab start with Double-A Somerset.
Cortés struck out four batters and allowed a solo homer in his first start since landing on the 60-day injured list with a left rotator cuff sprain. He tossed 42 pitches, generated 11 swings and misses, and will likely need another couple more starts before he is ready to return to the Yankees rotation, sometime around the middle of August.
Chapman was again impressive.
Chapman threw 15 pitches in a scoreless eight inning. He struck out two of the batters. With his work he lowered his ERA to 1.98 for the year with a 5-3 record and 3 saves in 36 1/3 inning. In his last seven games he has 7 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts and only three hits.
Daysbel Hernández won his first MLB game after the Braves selected his contract from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Daysbel pitched one scoreless inning of one hit with three strikeouts during his MLB debut to collect the win, a 4-2 victory against Milwaukee. Hernández struck out three of the four batters he faced in the seventh and set the stage for Ozzie Albies to give the Braves their latest comeback win with his go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning. Hernández has now struck out 20 of the 27 batters he has faced for Double-A Mississippi, Triple-A Gwinnett and Atlanta over 7 2/3 innings going back to June 30. He has made a quick ascent after missing all of the 2022 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The 26-year-old reliever has pitched at three levels this season, posting a 2.05 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, and 32/10 K/BB ratio across 20 appearances. Prior to the promotion, the fireball reliever posted a 17 2/3 inning hitless streak between Double-A and Triple-A. It will be interesting to see how the Braves use him, but he isn’t a factor for saves with Rasiel Iglesias still on the roster.
Adolis García was not in the Rangers’ starting lineup for Sunday’s showdown against the Dodgers.
It was not surprising to see García out of the lineup Sunday after being hit on the right hand with a pitch in Saturday afternoon’s game. X-rays were negative, and it appears that he avoided serious injury.
