Cuban star closer Mendoza ready to have a good season in Japanese baseball

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 9 (acn) While still in the midst of the final playoff of the Cuban Serie Nacional, young Cuban pitcher Hector Mendoza says he is ready to have a great season in the Japanese professional league.

In my second foray with the Yomiuri Giants I should start in the lower division, waiting to rise at some point to the Japanese major league, the talented pitcher, who will leave for the Asian nation five days after concluding the National Series, told ACN.

Last year I could not be part of the main squad, but for this year I intend to train vigorously and polish some shortcomings in my performance to fulfill the dream of pitching in the major tournament of Japanese baseball, Mendoza said.

Mendoza played in just four matches with the second team of Yomiuri, totaling five innings and two thirds in which he allowed three hits, struck out five batters and had an ERA of 1.59.

Reliever par excellence in the squad of Isla de la Juventud and in the Cuban national team, Hector Manuel Mendoza confessed his desire to become in the near future a starting pitcher, a role he would also like to play with the Yomiuri Giants.

Owner of a formidable fastball that has surpassed 95 miles per hour, the young pitcher signified the importance of adding new resources to his repertoire, with the aim of improving his effectiveness as a pitcher.

Besides fastball, curve and a change-up, which I use more regularly, I am developing a slider to use it in tight situations, he said.

In the regular season of the 54th National Series, Héctor Manuel Mendoza had little activity with Isla de la Juventud , but in the postseason he has emerged as a major trump card for Coach José Rodríguez Pantoja by adding three wins in five games he has relieved.

The speedy right-hander also was one of the main architects in the coronation of Cuba in the 2015 Caribbean Series in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he pitched six innings in three relief appearances with a win and no run allowed.