Major League Baseball fans may have never heard the name Livan Moinelo.
And frankly, Moinelo may never be relevant to MLB. But he’s someone worth hearing about for fans of the beautiful game that is baseball.
You see, Moinelo is from Cuba, and he pitches in Japan for the SoftBank Hawks. Cuban athletes can play in Japan with no issue, not requiring the need to defect like they do to play in the United States.
Moinelo, a left-handed pitcher, has been a star in Nippon Professional Baseball for years.
Now at age 29, Moinelo just had the best outing of his life.
On Friday, Moinelo struck out nine of the first 10 batters he faced. He went on to throw 8.0 innings and allow just three hits, two walks and no runs.
The southpaw finished with an absurd 18 strikeouts.
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Moinelo has represented Cuba in the World Baseball Classic before, but otherwise, he has spent his career between the Cuban National Series and Japan.
While it has become more normal to see Cuban players defect to come play in MLB, it doesn’t mean it’s something that every such athlete wants for their life.
Moinelo has clearly decided that he’s happy playing in the second best baseball league on the planet. With an ERA under 1.50 this season, he’s definitely right at home on the mound there.
MLB fans may never get to see him pitch stateside. But that doesn’t mean Moinelo isn’t one of the best pitchers on the planet anyway.
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