By Álex Fernández Fernández
When there is a lot of pitching in a baseball circuit, in which every day one or another monster steps on the mound, batting over .300 is a figure that very few can boast. Only about twenty players have been achieving it so far this season, according to MLB’s official website, and five of them are Cuban.
While some speak of a baseball crisis in the Island, the numbers of several Cubans in the Big Show leave a mark.
The five-man show is formed by:
Yordan Álvarez with .306: The Rookie of the Year of a couple of seasons ago, he leads the offense of the Houston Astros. His 26 homers and 60 runs batted in make the native of Las Tunas one of the most fearsome hitters in the junior circuit.
José Iglesias .302: The Colorado Rockies couldn’t make a better bet than on the Cuban shortstop. “Candelita” has 33 RBIs and 20 doubles.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. .303: The youngest of the Gurriel brothers, already an established player with Toronto, has 23 doubles and 36 RBIs.
José Dariel Abreu .302: The White Sox MVP, despite a slow start, is already slugging .470, while his OPS is .854.
Luis Robert .301: La Pantera of the White Sox, completes the list: 92 hits y 54 RBIs.
On top of it all, Yandy Díaz, with a .299 batting average, is in the middle of a remarkable season as well.
Other Latinos in the top 20 are Rafael Devers and Manny Machado, while Venezuelan Luis Arráez of Minnesota leads all of baseball with an astronomical .343. Mexican Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays and Aruba native Xander Bogaerts complete the list among foreigners.
Paul Goldschmidth, Freddie Freeman, Andrew Benintendi, Josh Bell, Tim Anderson, Cuban-American J.D. Martínez, Jeff McNeill, Nico Hoener, Ty France and Trea Turner are the other ballplayers hitting above the .300 mark for the time being.
