MLB 2022 | Cuban Players News

Daily Major League Baseball (MLB) Cuban Players News for the 2022 season. A compendium from several MLB sources.

Raisel Iglesias (Photo: LAA Twitter)

Apr 29, 2022

White Sox's Luis Robert: Could return today Manager Tony La Russa is hopeful that Robert (groin) will return to the lineup today against the Angels. Robert was out of the lineup for a sixth consecutive matchup Thursday against the Royals, but he participated in pregame warmups and looked good. The White Sox have remained insistent that Robert is day-to-day, and he seems to be trending toward a Friday return.

Apr 28, 2022

Raisel Iglesias fired a scoreless ninth inning Thursday, protecting a three-run lead against the Guardians to record his fifth save of the season.

Iglesias surrendered a leadoff single to José Ramírez, but managed to settle down quickly by striking out Owen Miller after a nine-pitch battle before coaxing a game-ending double-play ball off the bat of Josh Naylor to preserve the victory. The 32-year-old righty has converted all five of his save opportunities this season and holds a stellar 1.04 ERA, 0.35 WHIP and 11/0 K/BB ratio across 8 2/3 innings (nine appearances).

José Iglesias had another hit game.

Iglesias extended to three his consecutive hits games collecting a single on Thursday. The Cuban shortstop is now hitting .333 for the season and .391 during his last seven games. On Wednesday night Iglesias had his second four hits game of the year.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. scored decisive run.

Gurriel Jr. went 1-for-4 against the Red Sox on Thursday afternoon, scoring the only run of the game in the third inning. Toronto ended up beating Boston 1-0. Gurriel is hitting .274 for the season with 2 homers and 10 RBI.

José Abreu and Yasmani Grandal had one hit each in a 5-2 loss against the Royals.

Abreu went 1-for-4 with a strikeout while Grandal - as a DH hitter - was 1-for-3 and struck-out once. Chicago, one of the huge favorites to the 2022 postseason can't find its rhythm and is now placed third in the AL Central with a poor 7-11 record.

Yordan Álvarez went 1-for-4 versus the Rangers.

Yordan had an RBI and went 1-for-4 against the Rangers on Thursday afternoon. His BA is .235 for the season, even when he has been a different hitter during the last seven games, collecting 7 hits and a better .269 BA.

Jorge Soler went 0-for-4 as the Marlins' No. 3 hitter Thursday against the Nationals.

It's the Marlins' big free agent additions that are holding them back right now, as Soler has a .546 OPS and Avisail Garcia is at .464. Soler actually hit two balls really hard today, but he was denied both times (Statcast had the expected averages of those shots at .850 and .670). Things will get better eventually.

Astros' Aledmys Díaz: Primary replacement for Altuve. Díaz started at second base and batted sixth in Thursday's game against the Rangers. He went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Díaz started at the keystone for the fourth time in five games and appears to the preferred option at the position over Niko Goodrum while Jose Altuve (hamstring) is on the injured list. Astros general manager James Click said that Altuve is expected to be activated ahead of Monday's game against the Mariners, so Díaz's time as a near-everyday player should soon come to an end.

Randy Arozarena didn't start on Thursday. Arozarena didn't start Thursday against the Mariners. Arozarena got his first day off since April 11 after he went 2-for-19 with three runs, a stolen base, a walk and seven strikeouts in his last five appearances. Harold Ramirez served as the designated hitter and batted fifth.

Yuli Gurriel struggles continues.

Gurriel went 0-for-4 and a strikeout on Thursday against the Rangers. His BA is now .203 for the season.

Luis Robert (groin) was out of the White Sox lineup again on Thursday.

Robert has now been missing for a full week with a tweaked groin, but it's an encouraging sign for a weekend return that he has yet to be placed on the injured list. Andrew Vaughn, AJ Pollock, and Gavin Sheets are starting across the outfield for Chicago on Thursday afternoon against the Royals.