MLB 2022 | Cuban Players News

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

Aroldis Chapman (Photo: New York Yankees Twitter)

May 12, 2022

Aroldis Chapman allowed the first run of the season in Yankees 5-3 win over the Blue Jays Wednesday afternoon.

Chapman was tasked with protecting a three-run advantage in the ninth inning. He allowed a leadoff double to Santiago Espinal and walked Vinny Capra to bring the tying run to the plate with nobody out. They pushed a run across on a sacrifice fly off the bat of George Springer, then Chapman battled back to strike out Bo Bichette and get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a pop out to second base to end it. Chapman has now converted each of his first eight save chances on the season while posting a 0.79 ERA and 1.15 WHIP.

Adolis García went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Wednesday's loss to the Royals.

García was unable to get anything going in this one. About par for the course this season, as the 29-year-old outfielder is hitting just .200/.262/.364 with four homers and 18 RBI across 110 at-bats. García offers plenty of pop -- he rocked 31 homers last season -- but his is a limited profile.

Randy Arozarena went 0-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base in Wednesday's 4-2 extra-inning win over the Angels.

The 27-year-old has yet to get really hot, but he's finding a way to contribute while trying to lock in his swing. Arozarena is slashing .223/.266/.347 on the season with one homer, five steals, nine RBI and 14 runs through 31 contests, but he is batting .273 (12-for-44) through 11 games in May.

High-A Winston-Salem placed Colás on its 7-day injured list Wednesday due to a wrist injury.

According to Winston-Salem manager Lorenzo Bundy, the wrist issue had been bothering Colás since the 23-year-old last appeared in the lineup April 28. Bundy is optimistic that Colás will be ready to return early next week, so the outfielder doesn't look as though he's in danger of a long-term absence. Thus far during his first season in affiliated ball, Colás is slashing .301/.363/.479 with two home runs in 80 plate appearances.

Vladimir Gutiérrez was hit hard in a no-decision against the Brewers on Wednesday, giving up four runs on six hits over his 4 2/3 innings of work.

On the plus side, the right-hander racked up six strikeouts on the afternoon while issuing a pair of free passes. The Reds staked him to an early 7-0 lead through two innings and all he had to do was keep the train on the tracks to earn a victory, but he came up one out shy. Most of the damage came on a three-run blast by Christian Yelich in the third inning. Gutiérrez will carry a horrifying 8.65 ERA and 1.96 WHIP into Tuesday's matchup against the Guardians in Cleveland.

Pedro León is hitting .243/.386/.485 across his first 127 plate appearances with Triple-A Sugar Land.

León managed only a .033 ISO across 75 plate appearances with Sugar Land to end the 2021 season. While he's increased that mark to .243 in the new campaign, he is still striking out at a 32.3 percent clip. That type of performance isn't likely to earn him a promotion to the majors, but it is worth noting that León has played the majority of his games in center field. Chas McCormick is currently the primary center fielder in Houston, but he has just a .301 wOBA to go along with a .238/.286/.393 line. If León can show some increased contact ability in the coming weeks, he could still factor into the team's plans at the big-league level in 2022.

Twins purchased the contract of RHP Yennier Cano from Triple-A St. Paul.

It's the first trip to the big leagues for the 28-year-old hurler. The hard-throwing right-hander was off to a terrific start at Triple-A St. Paul, firing 12 scoreless innings with a 0.83 WHIP and 14/4 K/BB ratio. He'll add another weapon in the middle innings for the Twins bullpen.