The athletes arrived in the Dominican Republic and are already training in academies.
14ymedio, Havana, 8 October 2025 — The exodus of Cuban baseball players seems endless. Pitcher Pedro de Jesús Castillo arrived in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday. The dream of landing a contract with a Major League team has led “seven members of the U-15 national team that qualified for the 2026 World Cup in that category” to emigrate, journalist Francys Romero emphasized.
Castillo “was the pitcher who displayed the greatest velocity on the Cuban team during the U-15 World Cup, with a fastball of 88 miles per hour,” the broadcaster recalled.
Before player José Muñiz, a native of Granma province, arrived in the Dominican Republic, his performances had already earned him the title of Most Valuable Player at the World Cup Qualifiers. The athlete, considered by scouts to be one of the best players in his class, will be represented by major leaguer Alex Sánchez and will train at his academy in Santo Domingo.
At the beginning of October, the departure of the best pitcher in the U-15 category, Carlos Sarduy, was confirmed. The Matanzas native, who stands 1.87 meters tall, will present himself to academy recruiters in January with an average pitch of between 86 and 88 miles per hour.
The players joined slugger Cristian Aguilera and infielder Damián Díaz. According to Francys Romero, the athletes are eligible to sign starting on January 15, 2027.
Cuban baseball continues to bleed while authorities fail to find a way to retain its promising players. In 2024, 19 of the 20 players from the U-15 team that participated in the 2022 World Cup for that age group, held in the state of Sonora, Mexico, broke away from the sport, considered a cultural heritage.
Yordan Rodríguez was the last of that group to travel to the Dominican Republic. Last January, the Guantanamo native formalized his contract with the Athletics, a deal that included a $400,000 bonus.
In The Dream and Reality. Stories of Cuban Baseball Emigration (1960-2018), Romero explains that the average age of baseball players leaving the island decreases each year. It was 24.4 years old in 2015; three calendar years later, it had dropped to 17.9.
This Wednesday, the departure of Aniel Oscar Ramírez, a member of the U-10 team, was also confirmed. He will train at Javier Rodríguez’s academy. Seven other players have also left the team.
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