After representing Nicaragua in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, Angel Obando will pitch in Mexico’s Liga Mexicana de Beisbol for the Conspiradores de Queretaro this summer.
Obando previously pitched in the New York Yankees organization, making 14 appearances from 2018-19 for the Yankees’ Dominican Summer League club, throwing 48 2/3 innings with a 3.88 ERA, 48 strikeouts and 22 walks.
Since leaving the Yankees organization, Obando has pitched in his native Nicaragua, appearing with the Gigantes de Rivas in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 winter seasons, where he pitched 40 2/3 innings with a 2.38 ERA, 43 strikeouts, and 28 walks in 26 relief appearances.
As a member of the Nicaragua national team, Obando was on the roster but did not appear in the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in Taiwan, where Nicaragua swept the qualifier, winning extra-inning games against South Africa and Spain and then defeating Chinese Taipei 6-0 to earn a berth in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
This past winter, he made his first appearance in the Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional, making one start in the playoffs for the Aguilas del Zulia, throwing four scoreless innings and allowing two hits and a walk, striking out two
Obando made one appearance for Nicaragua at the 2026 World Baseball Classic, throwing the final 3 1/3 innings in Nicaragua’s 4-3 loss to the Netherlands, where he allowed a game-ending homer by Ozzie Albies in the bottom of the ninth, the first come-from-behind game ending home run in World Baseball Classic history.
At the 2026 Baseball Champions League, Obando threw 4 1/3 innings for the Dantos de Managua, allowing four earned runs on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts in his lone start of the tournament against Taiwan’s CTBC Brothers on March 24.
With Queretaro, Obando joins a staff that can only improve after posting a league-worst 7.43 ERA in 2025. The Conspiradores’ staff walked 488 batters, the most in the league, and struck out 554, the fewest in the league, while also allowing a league-worst 697 runs and 145 homers on their way to a ninth-place finish in the Zona Sur with a 35-55 record.
Photo: Angel Obando pitches for the Gigantes de Rivas in the APBN. (Photo via @laprofesional_APBN and @Angel_buhito19 on Instagram)
