Cuban right-handed pitcher Yusniel Padron confirmed on the Cuba Grand Slam podcast episode that he will be part of the Cuba national team’s 60-man Premier12 tournament selection roster on September 4.
Padron, 26, was born in Havana, Cuba, and was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 22nd of the 2018 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft out of Miami Dade College.
Padron signed with the Red Sox on June 22, 2018, and was assigned to the Gulf Coast League Rookie Level on the same day.
He played four minor league seasons with the Boston organization in the GCL in 2018 and made it to Double-A Portland in 2022.
Padron split time with Class-A Greenville and Class-A Shortseason Lowell in 2019 and High-A Greenville from 2021-22.
In his four seasons in the minor leagues, Padron has a 16-23 record with a 5.11 ERA with 49 starts and 81 appearances, throwing 317.1 innings, allowing 343 hits, 180 earned runs, 58 home runs, 85 walks, 353 strikeouts, and a 1.349 WHIP.
Padron played in the 2022-23 Panama ProBeis regular season with the Atlanticos De Bocas Del Toro Y Colon and lost to the Federales de Chriqui in the best-of-three championship series.
Padron was a reinforcement for the Federales de Chiriqui in Caracas, Venezuela, at the 2023 Caribbean Series and went 0-1 with one appearance from the bullpen, posting a 9.00 ERA, throwing one inning, allowing two hits, one earned run, two walks, and one strikeout while facing six batters.
He left the 2023 Caribbean Series in his only appearance with a torn ACL in his left knee at the 2023 Caribbean Series and was sidelined for the whole 2023 regular season with the Red Sox organization.
Padron was released from the Red Sox on March 21, prior to signing with the Capitales de Quebec in the Frontier League.
This season with the Capitales de Québec, Padron is 5-1 with a 5.53 ERA in 30 appearances and two starts. He has posted one save, throwing 53.2 innings, allowing 65 hits, 33 earned runs, six home runs, 20 walks, 51 strikeouts, and a 1.584 WHIP.
Padrón won the 2015 U-23 National Series with the Industriales de La Habana and was part of the Cuban national team team that traveled to the 2015 U-18 World Cup held in Osaka, Japan, and played with upcoming professional Cuban pipeline players such as Luis Robert Jr., Oscar Luis Colás, Yolbert Sánchez and Miguel Vargas.
Padron, at the age of 17, was called up to play for the Industriales de La Habana for the 2015-16 Serie Nacional winter league season after the 2015 U-18 World Cup. During the 2015-16 regular season, he appeared in only four games, always as a reliever, and completed 10 innings with an ERA of 0.90, a 1.70 WHIP, four strikeouts, and three walks.
Pitching will be huge for Cuba in the tournament, where we could potentially see if more players from the minor leagues could be included on Cuba’s roster for the tournament. Some of the pitchers we could see representing Cuba would be Nippon Professional Baseball flame throwers Livan Moinelo and Raidel Martinez, Frank Luis Medina, former Major League Baseball pitcher Yoan Lopez, Raymond Figueredo, Yusniel Padron Artiles, Yoennis Yera, and former MLB reliever Darien Nunez.
Former San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals pitcher Ronald Bolaños also confirmed on his social media accounts that he will be part of the Premier12 team, according to Pelota Cubana journalist Yusseff Diaz.
Cuba is now ranked No. 8 in the World Baseball Rankings from the WBSC since the updated rankings were released on September 3.
Cuba is set to compete in Group B of the Premier12 Tournament. Their group features powerhouse teams from Japan, South Korea, and the Dominican Republic. Games will begin on Nov. 10 and run until Nov. 24. Cuba will face off against the Dominican Republic in their first game on November 13 at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium in Taipei City.
Photo Credit: Yusniel Padron-Artiles (Kelly O’Connor)
