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The Cuban gardener Andy Pagés of the Los Angeles Dodgers leads the batting average across all Major Leagues with .370 at the start of the 2026 season, also highlighting a historic presence of three Cubans among the top ten batters in MLB.
Alongside Pagés, Yordan Álvarez (Houston Astros) and Yandy Díaz (Tampa Bay Rays) rank ninth and tenth on the list, each with a batting average of .326, solidifying an unprecedented image of Cuban baseball at the top of the offensive charts in the best baseball in the world, according to the list from Pelota Cubana.
The player from Pinar del Río, originally from Mantua, Pinar del Río, has had a start to the season that has left the entire league speechless.
By April 14, he was already the first MLB player to reach 20 RBIs in 2026, with five home runs and an OPS of 1.181, figures that reflect sustained offensive dominance and not just a lucky start.
Weeks before, during the week of March 30 to April 5, Pagés was named National League Player of the Week after hitting .583 (14 out of 24) with two home runs, two doubles, seven RBIs, and an OPS of 1.532, leading MLB in hits and total bases.
He was also the first Dodger to record five consecutive games with multiple hits since Shohei Ohtani in April 2024, highlighting the significance of his streak on a team full of stars.
On that same day, Yordan Álvarez received the equivalent award in the American League, marking the first time since April 2025 that two Cubans simultaneously won both weekly awards from MLB.
The journey of Pagés to this peak was not easy. Born on December 8, 2000, he escaped from Cuba at 16 years old in 2017 alongside Jairo Pomares, traveling through Guyana, Curaçao, and Haiti until reaching the Dominican Republic, where the Dodgers signed him in March 2018 for 300,000 dollars.
His rise through the minor leagues was meteoric: at 18 years old, with the Ogden Raptors, he led the league in extra-base hits (43) and was second in home runs (19), showcasing the power and contact he now displays at the highest level.
In the 2025 season, he solidified his status as a star by batting .272 with 27 home runs and 86 runs batted in, becoming only the third Cuban to achieve 25 or more home runs and 80 or more RBIs before the age of 25, alongside Yordan Álvarez and José Canseco.
Additionally, he was a key player in the conquest of the 2025 World Series for the Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays, where his spectacular catch in Game 7 with the bases loaded and two outs preserved the 5-4 victory, making him the second Cuban to win two rings in his first two seasons in MLB, matching Orlando "El Duque" Hernández.
The collective context is also noteworthy: Cuba set a record of 26 players on opening rosters in MLB in 2025, and the simultaneous presence of three Cubans in the Top 10 batting averages at the start of 2026 reaffirms the depth of baseball talent from the island at the highest level of the sport.
"Pagés not only leads... he is setting the pace throughout the league. Elite production in a lineup full of stars."
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