Cuban Pitcher Carlos Adrián Hernández, 15, Leaves Island to Chase MLB Dream

Cuban pitcher Carlos Adrián Hernández, a 15-year-old right-hander from Villa Clara, has left the island for the Dominican Republic, where he hopes to earn an MLB contract. Baseball reporter Francys Romero disclosed the move this week. The teenager is leaving behind the hunger and misery imposed by the Cuban communist regime.

The young prospect made the biggest decision of his life: leaving an island in ruins to pursue a lucrative Major League Baseball contract, according to baseball reporter Francys Romero, who first reported the departure on Facebook.

Hernández would rather start over in another country than surrender his talent to a decaying regime that exploits its athletes and destroys young people’s prospects.

Read Francys Romero’s original Facebook report (in Spanish). Cubanos por el Mundo also published a Spanish-language version of this story.

Carlos Adrián Hernández: a right arm with substantial upside

Hernández’s physical tools stand out for his age. He is just over 6 feet tall, with a right arm projected to develop pitches topping 90 mph. His potential for growth is considerable.

The independent outlet 14ymedio, which also covered his departure, lists him at 1.85 meters and describes that 90 mph mark as the average in the majors.

Those tools reflect talent developing despite the system’s destructive burden. Every Cuban pitcher capable of throwing harder than 90 mph represents another valuable prospect Havana risks losing through incompetence, greed and suffocating control.

From Cuba’s under-15 pool to the Dominican Republic

Carlos Adrián Hernández had been in the selection pool for Cuba’s under-15 national team, which competed in the age group’s World Cup. He quickly concluded that staying on an island held captive by the regime would mean sacrificing his future.

That tournament was played in Mérida, Mexico, and ended on Oct. 4 with Cuba out of medal contention, 14ymedio reported. Within days, word came that one of the pitchers considered for that roster was already in the Dominican Republic.

Now in the Dominican Republic, the Cuban pitcher is expected to become eligible for the 2027–2028 international signing period. Under MLB’s international amateur signing rules, clubs may sign foreign prospects between Jan. 15 and Dec. 15 of each year.

The Dominican Republic has become the preferred route for Cuban prospects because it offers training academies, access to scouts and a way to meet MLB’s eligibility requirements for international free agents. At least six young Cuban players have chosen that path in 2026, according to a count by CiberCuba. For Hernández, the next step is to train there until he can sign an MLB contract.

For a talented Cuban player, remaining on the island means depending on government handouts. Professional baseball offers a path toward the financial independence and respect that communism systematically denies.

The breakdown of Cuba’s sports system

His departure is another sign of the dictatorship’s failed sports system. More than 1,000 athletes have left Cuba over the past decade, and at least 700 of them were young baseball players with professional potential, according to 14ymedio’s estimate.

The same report puts a National Series player’s pay at 3,500 pesos, while a carton of eggs can cost as much as 4,300 pesos on the island.

The exodus will continue as long as the communist leadership keeps the country mired in darkness and poverty. Hernández’s move toward professional baseball is another indictment of a sport left to wither under the dictatorship.

As those in power try to conceal the disaster, the young Cuban player is preparing in the Dominican Republic to reach baseball’s highest level, leaving behind a system that consumes its own people without mercy.

Other Cuban baseball players who made the same choice

Hernández joins a long list of Cuban baseball players who have left Cuba in recent years. Recently, Leandro Forteza also left for the Dominican Republic to pursue an MLB contract (Spanish article).

The 19-year-old right-handed pitcher from Sancti Spíritus chose to leave the state-run sports system and develop his arm in professional baseball.

Before him, young catcher Enrique Tejera headed to the Dominican Republic, where he, too, hopes to sign with an MLB organization (Spanish article).

Tejera, 15, is also from Villa Clara. He was his province’s standout hitter in the 2025 under-15 national championship and is training at Javier Rodríguez’s academy, as Cubanos por el Mundo reported at the time.

In July, 17-year-old right-hander Richard Bouquet left Holguín for a Dominican academy with the same goal (Spanish article).

Bouquet is training with Bailli Baseball, an academy founded by former Cuban player Kenen Bailli, according to 14ymedio.

For young Cuban players, the examples of those who have secured MLB deals show what discipline and an opportunity outside the regime’s grip can make possible.

As long as the communist dictatorship remains in power, more talented young people will join that exodus. They leave not only to help themselves, but also to support the loved ones still trapped under the rule of those in power.

A generation of prospects walking away

Carlos Adrián Hernández is only the latest name on that list, and the pattern goes beyond individual cases. Forteza pitched for Cuba at the 2025 under-18 World Cup in Japan, and Romero counts him as the eighth member of that squad to leave the island, 14ymedio reported.

Left-hander César Morales, also from Villa Clara, was the first of that group to go, in July 2025. Marcos Fuentes, Alejandro Cairo and Cristian Rojas followed in August of that year, and Javier Zambrano in November, according to the same outlet.

The losses show on the field. Cuba dropped from sixth place at the 2015 Premier12 to 11th in 2024, and at the most recent World Baseball Classic the national team failed to advance past the first round, 14ymedio noted.

What we know so far

• Carlos Adrián Hernández, 15, is a right-handed pitcher from Villa Clara.
• He left Cuba and is now in the Dominican Republic, according to reporter Francys Romero.
• He was in the preliminary pool for Cuba’s under-15 World Cup team.
• He is expected to be eligible for the 2027–2028 international signing period. No deal with an MLB organization has been reported.