Liván Moinelo

Tokyo, Dec 3 (PL) Cuban Liván Moinelo received today the Latino of the Year 2024 award in the Japan Professional Baseball League, after a spectacular season, where he debuted as a starting pitcher.

After seven seasons as a reliever, the left-hander from the western province of Pinar del Río excelled in his new role by finishing as the most effective in the Pacific League, with a 1.88 earned run average per nine innings of work, and became the first Latin American-born pitcher in the history of the competition to lead in that department.

The member of the SoftBank Falcons team also led in the Whip rate with 0.94, had 84 percent of quality starts, in addition to finishing fourth in wins (11), and strikeouts (155).

This award is in addition to the one obtained in 2020, when he was named Intermediate Reliever of the Year in his league, and the Gold Glove received last month for his good defensive work on the mound.

The day before, he was selected in Cuba as the best athlete under contract this year, in the survey conducted by the directors of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation, where sports journalists from the national media cast their votes.