Cuban pitcher Livan Moinelo wins gold glove at NPB

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 12 (ACN) Cuban pitcher Livan Moinelo won today the first gold glove of his career in Japan's professional baseball (NPB), being recognized as the best defender of his position by the local critics.

In a close contest, the left-handed pitcher, player of the Softbank Falcons of the Pacific League, beat Kazuma Ojima of the Lotte Marinos and Hiromi Ito of the Nippon Ham Wrestlers, who received 54 ballots, by only one vote.

With this award, Moinelo becomes the first Latino to win such distinction in NPB, since his compatriot and starter Dayan Viciedo did it in the Central League in the 2021 season.

The pitcher was also the most effective in his circuit during the regular campaign, allowing only 1.88 RBIs per complete game and taking over a leadership that no Latin American-born player had achieved in the history of baseball in Japan.

In his first game as a starter after seven seasons as a reliever, he was fourth in wins with 11 and in strikeouts with 155 in 163 innings of work.