The young Cuban player Luis Danys Morales Aguilera left the Cuba team this Tuesday after his arrival in Mexico, where the III U-23 Baseball World Cup will be held.
Morales, 18, arrived with the national team at the Mexico City airport and then continued the bus trip to Ciudad Obregón, in the state of Sonora, headquarters of the competition, but separated from the group after arriving at the terminal. air and is currently at an unknown location.
The news of Morales' escape was initially reported on social networks by journalist Francis Romero and confirmed hours later by an official note from the National Baseball Commission, read in the nightly edition of the National Television News (NTV).
“Cuban prospect Luis Danys Morales (18) leaves the Cuba team at the airport in the capital of Mexico, according to people close to the team. Morales, a native of Sancti Spíritus, is one of the most coveted prospects by MLB organizations,” reported Francys Romero.
The Cuban team traveled on an 18-hour bus trip to Obregón. The tournament begins on September 23 and will last until October 2, and The Cubans will play on the opening day against the Dominican Republic.
Luis Danys, a young, tall right-handed pitcher, is considered one of the best prospects left in Cuba. According to pelotacubanausa.comMonths ago, the pitcher made headlines during the National youth tournament, by striking out a total of 18 in seven and two-thirds innings against the Las Tunas team.
In August 2020, Luis Dannys had been captured in an attempt to illegally leave the country with which he intended to reach the United States. At the time of his capture, the Cuban pitcher was in the company of his parents.
For these events, he was sanctioned to three months without participating in official events, but he continued training the entire time.
"Luis Danys shoots over 90 miles and was with the Sancti Spíritus team in the last National Series. He joined in the middle of the season because he was sanctioned for illegal departure," he told CyberCuba a baseball coach from Sancti Spíritus. "With that background I didn't think they would include him in the national team."
The coach's surprise is based on recent statements by the team's manager, Eriel Sánchez, also from Sancti Spiritus, who commented that some players were left out of the national team under non-sporting criteria such as “lack of patriotism.”
The source said that Morales has a promising future and noted that the young pitcher must improve some control problems to reach greater goals.
In the 2020-21 National Series, Luis Danys pitched 12 games, nine of them as a starter, with a 3-3 record and 6.84 earned run average. He struck out 58 and walked 30 in 42.2 innings pitched, according to data obtained by CyberCuba.
His numbers speak of his enormous talent and experts envision a successful career in one of the 30 Major League franchises.
In 2018, when he was still playing in the U-15 category, he gave a zero-hit/zero-run game, according to what he reported. pelotacubanausa.com.
At just 17 years old, he recorded pitches of 96 miles per hour (MPH), remaining stable at 90 MPH throughout the game. Apparently, this type of feat is common for the law of Tuinucú, a town in the Sancti Spiritus municipality of Taguasco.
In the last Under-18 championship, the pitcher left a 7-3 record with an ERA of 0.87 and a WHIP of 0.76 in 82.2 innings worked. In that interval the opponents hit him for an anemic 161. This is something that has not been seen in that province since Maels Rodríguez, his coach David Pérez assured the provincial newspaper. Escambray.
It is even more impressive to know that in 82.2 innings worked, the pitcher struck out a total of 135 batters (18 in a seven-inning game), achieving a feat that very few players achieve at his age.
Weighing 75 kilograms and 1.88 meters tall, Luis Dannys Morales touched the sky of Cuban youth baseball and many are those who predict and hope that he will go as far as he intends in the American professional league.
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