The departures of Alain Michel Rodríguez and Dainel Santos from the Island are confirmed, as they seek an opportunity with U.S. clubs in the Dominican Republic.
14ymedio, Havana, October 4, 2026 – Two of the baseball players who left the Island have achieved their dream of signing contracts with Major League Baseball teams in the United States. Rodelvis Santiesteban signed with the Chicago Cubs, while Omar Elías Guerra reached an agreement with the San Diego Padres. The agreements coincide with the departures of other talents, Alain Michel Rodríguez and Dainel Santos.
Santiesteban officially joined the Chicago club, which also has other athletes from the Island among its ranks: Naikys Piedra, Darian Rivero, Eriandys Ramón, Félix Stevens and Frank Hernández. The player from Guantánamo was awarded a $20,000 signing bonus, in addition to having his studies guaranteed.
The 17-year-old baseball player left Cuba in June 2024. In Santo Domingo, he was taken in by GT Baseball Academy, run by Cuban Jorge Luis Toca, where he refined his skills. Santiesteban averages 60 yards in 6.3 seconds, according to data provided by journalist Francys Romero.
Toca’s academy is located in Punta Cana, where it trains young talents from the age of 14. Cubans William Alejandro Álvarez and Lázaro Herrera Jr. have also arrived at this facility. They were all attracted by the track record of a man who played in the National Series with Villa Clara and had a brief stint with the Mets. He was later sent to the Minor Leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals.
Last Friday, Omar Elías Guerra reached an agreement with the San Diego Padres to sign his contract in the coming days. He is one of the talents who was part of the Cuban Under-15 national team that participated in the Pan American Championship for the category in March 2024, in the Dominican Republic.
Last Friday, Omar Elías Guerra reached an agreement with the San Diego Padres to sign his contract in the coming days
Francys Romero specified that Guerra “combines contact ability and defensive versatility, characteristics that the Padres hope to develop so that he can advance through the Minor League system.”
Guerra is part of the Yuan Pino Academy, which is dedicated to training and placing Cuban baseball players. Last July, the school already had 15 young players from the Island with agreements with U.S. clubs.
The Island continues to suffer the departure of its young baseball prospects. This Saturday, the arrival of Alain Michel Rodríguez in the Dominican Republic was confirmed. The athlete “is the son of Yessander Rodríguez, who played in the National Series with Santiago and for many years has been a leading figure on the Cuban Softball team,” the journalist emphasized.
Rodríguez will train at Noni Sánchez’s Academy ahead of January 2027, when he will be eligible to sign with a Major League team.
On the last day of September, it became known that 18-year-old Dainel Santos was in Santo Domingo. The baseball player, a native of Villa Clara, was a member of the Under-18 team at the World Cup held in September 2025 in Japan.
“Ten of the 20 players who made up the team at the Under-18 World Cup are no longer in Cuba,” Romero specified.
The journalist recalled that as of August of this year, there were “between 45 and 60 departures of baseball players in different categories, a large proportion of them between the ages of 13 and 17, which are the players the industry is most interested in. Many of those young players already have preliminary agreements.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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