The Cuban infielder Andy Ibáñez hit his first home run with the Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, in a 15-11 victory for his team over the Sacramento River Cats.
According to a report by Pelota Cubana on their social media, the player from Pinar del Río entered the game as a substitute and finished going 2-for-1 with one run scored and two runs batted in.
The home run came in the top of the eighth inning, with a runner on base. Ibáñez launched the ball over left-center field to extend Tacoma's lead to 13-10. The hit was off a 91.8 miles per hour sinker, left the bat at 99.6 miles per hour, and traveled 394 feet.
It was Ibáñez's sixth home run of the season in the Minor Leagues, which brought his RBI total to 25 in the developmental circuit. In five games with Tacoma, the 33-year-old player is batting .188, with two doubles, one home run, and three RBIs.
The Mariners had recently signed him through a Minor League contract with Seattle and assigned him to Tacoma that same day, just five days after the New York Mets released him on August 13.
The 2026 season has been turbulent for the player from Havana. With the Mets in Major League Baseball, he recorded only two hits in 23 at-bats (.087 batting average) over 14 games, while in Triple-A Syracuse with the same organization, he batted .299 with four home runs and 21 RBIs in 137 at-bats.
Before the Mets, Ibáñez was with the Dodgers, who signed him in January 2026 but designated him for assignment just weeks later. New York claimed him off waivers on April 30.
The player has accumulated six seasons of experience in Major League Baseball with the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Athletics, and Mets, boasting a career batting average close to .250, 28 home runs, and over 128 RBIs. His best season was in 2021 with Texas: a .277 average, seven home runs, and 25 RBIs in 76 games.
The Detroit Tigers released him in November 2025 after three seasons in which he accumulated a .251 batting average, 20 home runs, and 94 RBIs in 304 games.
Beyond his pursuit to return to MLB, Ibáñez has already committed to participating in the Dominican winter league: the Cuban will play with the Leones del Escogido in LIDOM for the 2026-2027 season, which kicks off on October 16.
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