Name Jose Fernandez Role Baseball Player | Height 1.78 m Weight 84 kg | |
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Jose Miguel Fernandez interview
José Miguel Fernández (born May 27, 1988) is a Cuban professional baseball infielder who is in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He played for the Cuba national baseball team at the 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC).
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Professional career
Fernández played for Matanzas in the Cuban National Series (CNS). In the 2014-15 season, he batted .326 with a .482 on-base percentage (OBP), .456 slugging percentage (SLG), 65 walks and 10 strikeouts in 314 plate appearances, ranking second in the league in OBP. Baseball America ranked him as the #3 Cuban player in April 2015. With a notoriety as contact hitter, Fernández struck out 113 times in 2,580 career CNS plate appearances, a 4.3 percent rate, compared with a 10.1 percent walk rate (263 total walks). For his career in Cuba, Fernández batted .319 with a .403 OBP and .423 SLG. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC), he took 21 turns at the plate, batting .524 with a .545 OBP and .667 SLG without striking out.
He did not play in any professional games in 2015 – including the CNS – as he was suspended for previously attempting to defect from Cuba and remained under heavy police guard. On December 2, 2015, reports emerged that he had defected from Cuba. However, at that time, he had yet to establish residency in another country, and still required clearance from Major League Baseball (MLB) to sign a free agent contract with a major league club.
On January 11, 2017, it was officially announced that he had signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
