The right-handed pitcher Leandro Forteza, 19 years old and originally from Sancti Spíritus, arrived in the Dominican Republic this weekend with the aim of signing a contract with a Major League organization, as reported by specialized journalist Francys Romero on his social media.
Forteza thus becomes the eighth member of the Cuba U-18 team that represented the island in the World Cup of that category in 2025 to leave the country in search of a professional opportunity in North American baseball.
In that tournament held in Okinawa, Japan, the young pitcher participated in three games, achieving a record of 2-1, an ERA of 3.36, and seven strikeouts over 8.1 innings pitched.
Among his notable performances in the tournament is his debut against South Africa, where he threw five innings, allowed only one hit, and earned the victory in a 10-0 win for Cuba.
He was also the winning pitcher in the Cuban victory over Germany, 4-3, in the consolation round of a tournament where the national team finished in seventh place.
Beyond international youth baseball, Forteza participated in the 64th National Series (2025-2026 season) with the team from Sancti Spíritus, where he recorded a record of 0-3 and an earned run average of 7.20 over six games and 15.0 innings pitched, according to data from his profile on Cubadugout.
The path that Forteza is following is the same one that his teammates from the U-18 World Cup team have taken: to establish residency in the Dominican Republic to become eligible as an international free agent and to be able to sign with MLB teams during the signing periods.
The first to leave was the left-handed pitcher César Morales from Villa Clara in July 2025, who started training in Santo Domingo under the representation of the Wasserman agency. He was followed by Marcos Fuentes and Alejandro Cairo in August 2025, Cristian Rojas in October of that same year, and Javier Zambrano in November 2025.
The most recent before Forteza was Richard Bouquet, a 17-year-old right-handed pitcher from Holguín, who left Cuba in July 2026 and came under the guidance of Bailli Baseball.
The pattern reflects the difficulty of the Cuban sports system in retaining its youngest talents in light of the prospect of professional contracts in Major League Baseball, a drain that shows no signs of stopping.
With eight of its members already outside the island, the team that Cuba sent to the 2025 U-18 World Cup has become one of the most affected by the exodus of prospects that has characterized Cuban baseball in recent years.
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