Major League Baseball

The Cuban influence in MLB

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:23 p.m. ET

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Chris Bahr

Cuban ballplayers have been in Major League Baseball for a long time. It's a history that can be traced back as far as Steve Bellan, who played in the National Association during organized baseball's infancy. With the United States and Cuba striving to normalize relations, let's take a look back at those players who dared defy the embargo and made the perilous journey from Cuba to the United States in pursuit of their dream.

You're probably wondering about a few things in that last graph so let's go over its. The last chart explores the relationship between the years players defected and the career WARP they compiled. So that big spike in 1995 is thanks to Livan Hernandez's 30.4 career WARP. The same goes for Yunel Escobar, who defected in 2004, debuted in June of 2007 and has compiled 21.1 WARP ever since. There was a dearth of good Cuban defectors who lasted in the majors from 1998-2001. Nobody made it over in 2001 and also-rans such as Jorge Toca, Danys Baez, Brayan Pena and Adrian Hernandez were the only Cuban-born players who contributed at the major-league level. 

This most recent crew of Cuban-born players has the potential to be one of the best in Cuban baseball history. Jose Abreu, Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Fernandez and Aroldis Chapman all have made impact debuts state side, and they've come over in the past six years. Rusney Castillo, Jorge Soler and a few others are primed to take the scene as well. With the U.S. and Cuba talking about lifting the embargo, we very well may enter a golden age of beisbol Cubano.

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