Raicel Iglesias Stats, Video, and a Comparison with Armando Rivero

In Commentary And Analysis by GW21 Comments

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks v Cuba - WBC 2013 FriendlyRaicel Iglesias is a right-handed Cuban pitcher who defected in October of last year. His first attempt failed, after which he hid out until running out of food and water. Iglesias is sometimes known as Raisel (which I actually believe is correct), and commonly misspelled as Raciel. He pitched for Isla de la Juventud in Cuba’s National Series for three seasons, will turn 24 in April, and will be a free agent in the major leagues as long as he is cleared by OFAC prior to July 2nd.

Iglesias was used primarily as a reliever in Cuba, and he’s only 5’11”, 165 pounds. He has gained fans among scouts in the States by virtue of his recent performances with the National team. Here’s Ben Badler:

While Iglesias threw 88-92 mph at the WBC in March, he was more impressive on Cuba’s U.S. tour, where he threw 92-95 mph. Igelsias also added and subtracted from a sweepy 76-81 mph breaking ball, varying the shape on it to get a surprising number of swings and misses on the pitch.

Raicel Iglesias Stats

Tm Age G GS IP W L AB TBF H R ER ERA K BB BBI 2B 3B HR
2011 IJV 21 28 0 64 3 2 229 271 58 37 30 4.22 42 31 3 5 2 5
2012 IJV 22 30 3 76.7 1 1 282 344 72 33 28 3.29 53 54 5 10 2 3
2013 IJV 23 15 2 53.7 4 2 182 209 35 12 10 1.68 50 20 2 10 1 1
2013.5 IJV 23 15 0 29 0 7 117 131 37 20 18 5.59 24 10 3 4 1 2
Totals 88 5 223 8 12 810 955 202 102 86 3.47 169 115 13 29 6 11
Age IP ERA- K/9 BB/9 H/9 HR/9 K% BB% GB% HRCON- BABIP-
2011 21 64 80 5.9 4.4 8.2 0.7 6 3 7 77 90
2012 22 76.7 76 6.2 6.3 8.5 0.4 6 9 -2 51 101
2013 23 53.7 46 8.4 3.4 5.9 0.2 15 2 -2 41 89
2013.5 23 29 125 7.4 3.1 11.5 0.6 9 -1 0 103 119
Totals 78 6.8 4.6 8.1 0.4 8.6 4.3 1.0 66 98

It’s been a while since I profiled a pitcher, and I’m changing the way I show the numbers a bit. The peripheral percentages shown here (K%, BB%, GB%) are relative to league average. Positive numbers are good for K’s and GB’s, while negative numbers are good for BB’s. For ERA, homerun per contact, and BABIP, on the other hand, the numbers shown are a ratio of the player’s stats to league average. Numbers less than 100 are below league average, which is good for homers and earned runs.

Cuban Comps

Given that Iglesias has primarily been used as a reliever, I don’t think it would be all that meaningful to compare him to recent high-profile defectors like Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, Dalier Hinojosa and Odrisamer Despaigne. Cub farmhand Armando Rivero, on the other hand, does seem like a pretty good comp.

Yr Age G GS IP ERA- K/9 BB/9 K% BB% GB% HRCON- BABIP-
Raicel Iglesias 12-13 22-23 60 5 159.3 77 7.2 4.7 9.5 4.8 -1.6 58 101
Armando Rivero 10-11 22-23 48 0 98.7 64 7.8 3.6 11.0 0.9 1.4 82 97

Iglesias pitched quite a bit more than Rivero, but his control wasn’t as good. Rivero signed with the Cubs for $3.1 million last year, and rose rapidly through the farm system. Given the similarities, $3 million is not a bad initial bet for what Iglesias will receive. Demand for Cuban pitchers may be a little soft right now, however, given that Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez has yet to impress in Phillies camp, and Dalier Hinojosa only received $4.25 million from the Red Sox, so Iglesias may actually come fairly cheap.

Video

Despaigne, Gonzalez, and Hinojosa

In case you are curious as to how the aformentioned defectors shake out in the new data that I’ve acquired, here you go:

YR Age G GS IP ERA- K/9 BB/9 K% BB% GB% HRCON- BABIP-
Miguel A. Gzlz 09-12 22-25 52 51 342 59 6.7 2 7.0 -4.1 3.7 67 96
Dalier Hinojosa 10-13 24-27 56 54 365 77 7.7 2.7 10.0 -1.8 -0.8 117 100
Odrisamer Desp. 11-13 24-26 68 68 442 77 6.6 3.7 7.2 1.1 7.7 72 96

Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez was a good pitcher in Cuba; the numbers relative to league average illustrate that better than my previous post on the subject. Given the the change in his agreement with the Phillies (from $48 million initially down to $12 million), and the middling reports from spring training, I wonder whether he is completely healthy these days. Odrisamer Despaigne, who is unsigned, but has been cleared, was pretty good at generating ground balls.

For more defector profiles, go here. 

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  2. Suburban kid

    How’s the ticket bullshit going this year Aisley? I don’t recall any of the normal tickets going on sale hype that you usually see, although this place is the only Cubs related media source for me these days. I just went the cubs.com for the hell of it and saw that infield box seats are available for opening day.

    Have ticket brokers and other ST buyers stopped buying this year?

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  3. Rice Cube

    @ Suburban kid:
    I didn’t see any pix on Twitter about the “long lines” outside the box office on Friday for the single-game tickets, but then again I didn’t check my timeline all that closely.

    There is a promotion for some fairly nice seats in the upper deck left field boxes:

    http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/chc/ticketing/centuryseats.jsp?partnerId=as_mlb_20140308_19730964

    I got some tix for my family so we can snag some Babe Ruth bobbleheads. Not a bad price. No clue what the scalpers are up to.

    I am obviously not Aisley.

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  16. GBTS

    Fantasy baseball time: would you rather have Wil Myers or Jay Bruce in a keeper league? I can keep one for free, the other goes up for auction.

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  17. Author
    GW

    @ GBTS:

    If they are the same price, I think it’s still Bruce for this year. If you can keep for multiple years, it gets a lot more hazy.

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