Cuban Roel Santos debuts in Japanese baseball

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 1 (acn) Cuban ballplayer Roel Santos made his debut in the Japanese Professional Baseball League of (NPB) with the Chiba Lotte Marines as pinch hitter in the seventh inning against the Hanshin Tigers.

According to the Japanese Baseball site, Santos batted 0 for 2 with a strikeout and a groundout to SS at Zozo Marine stadium.
Santos, who played with the Quebec Capitales of the Canadian American League (CAN-AM) during the previous season, became the 234th Latin American athlete with participation in the NPB.
Debutant in Cuba´s National Baseball Series (SNB by its Spanish acronym) in 2008 and bronze medalist at the Pan American Games in Toronto (2015), Santos signed the contract with the Japanese club on May 17 th, in Havana.
The outfielder had a very good campaign with the Quebec Capitales in 2016, when hitting .301, thanks to 94 hits in 312 at-bats, with 46 runs scored and 34 RBIs.
After finishing the season in that country, he rested a few days and joined the Granma Alazanes in the Cuban championship, where he batted for .279 in the regular stage, but greatly improved in the play off where he was a key player for the first title of his squad in SNB.