Cubans in the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins

No franchise in baseball has employed more Cuban players than this one. Fifty-three Cuban-born men have appeared for the Washington Senators or the Minnesota Twins — and forty-eight of them arrived between 1913 and 1971. One scout signed most of them.

The franchise has had four Cubans in the fifty-five years since. In 2026 it has one: Kendry Rojas, a left-hander from Ciego de Ávila who debuted in April. The organisation that once ran on Cuban labour now has a single Cuban anywhere in its system.

Player	Pos	Born	Seasons	With the franchise
Jack Calvo	OF	Havana	1913, 1920	38 G, .161, 1 HR, 4 RBI
Mérito Acosta	OF	Bauta	1913–16, 1918	132 G, .225, 0 HR, 23 RBI
José Acosta	P	Havana	1920–21	50 G, 10–8, 4.24 ERA
Ricardo Torres	C	Regla	1920–22	22 G, .297, 0 HR, 3 RBI
Emilio Palmero	P	Guanabacoa	1926	7 G, 2–2, 4.76 ERA
Bobby Estalella	OF	Cárdenas	1935–36, 1939, 1942	243 G, .278, 18 HR, 116 RBI
Mike Guerra	C	Havana	1937, 1944–46, 1951	245 G, .235, 3 HR, 68 RBI
René Monteagudo	P	Havana	1938, 1940, 1944	32 G, 3–7, 6.04 ERA
Gil Torres	SS	Regla	1940, 1944–46	346 G, .252, 0 HR, 119 RBI
Roberto Ortiz	OF	Camagüey	1941–44, 1949–50	207 G, .259, 8 HR, 75 RBI
Luis Suárez	3B	Alto Songo	1944	1 G, .000, 0 HR, 0 RBI
Oliverio Ortiz	P	Camagüey	1944	2 G, 0–2, 6.23 ERA
Preston Gómez	2B	Central Preston	1944	8 G, .286, 0 HR, 2 RBI
Roy Valdés	PH	Havana	1944	1 G, .000, 0 HR, 0 RBI
Sandy Ullrich	P	Havana	1944–45	31 G, 3–3, 5.08 ERA
Armando Roche	P	Havana	1945	2 G, 0–0, 6.00 ERA
José Zardón	OF	Havana	1945	54 G, .290, 0 HR, 13 RBI
Ángel Fleitas	SS	Los Abreus	1948	15 G, .077, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Ramón García	P	La Esperanza	1948	4 G, 0–0, 19.69 ERA
Julio González	P	Banes	1949	13 G, 0–0, 4.75 ERA
Carlos Pascual	P	Havana	1950	2 G, 1–1, 2.12 ERA
Connie Marrero	P	Sagua la Grande	1950–54	118 G, 39–40, 3.68 ERA
Julio Moreno	P	Güines	1950–53	73 G, 18–22, 4.27 ERA
Rogelio Martínez	P	Cidra	1950	2 G, 0–1, 32.73 ERA
Sandy Consuegra	P	Potrerillos	1950–53	95 G, 20–16, 4.06 ERA
Frank Campos	OF	Havana	1951–53	71 G, .279, 0 HR, 13 RBI
Willy Miranda	SS	Velasco	1951	7 G, .444, 0 HR, 0 RBI
Mike Fornieles	P	Havana	1952, 1963	15 G, 3–3, 2.98 ERA
Raúl Sánchez	P	Marianao	1952	3 G, 1–1, 3.69 ERA
Camilo Pascual	P	Havana	1954–66	432 G, 145–141, 3.66 ERA
Carlos Paula	OF	Havana	1954–56	157 G, .271, 9 HR, 60 RBI
José Valdivielso	SS	Matanzas	1955–56, 1959–61	401 G, .219, 9 HR, 85 RBI
Juan Delis	3B	Santiago de Cuba	1955	54 G, .189, 0 HR, 11 RBI
Julio Bécquer	1B	Havana	1955, 1957–61, 1963	477 G, .246, 12 HR, 114 RBI
Pedro Ramos	P	Pinar del Río	1955–61	290 G, 78–112, 4.19 ERA
Vince Gonzáles	P	Quivicán	1955	1 G, 0–0, 27.00 ERA
Evelio Hernández	P	Guanabacoa	1956–57	18 G, 1–1, 4.48 ERA
Ossie Álvarez	SS	Bolondrón	1958	88 G, .209, 0 HR, 5 RBI
Zoilo Versalles	SS	Vedado, Havana	1959–67	1,109 G, .250, 87 HR, 406 RBI
Héctor Maestri	P	Havana	1960	1 G, 0–0, 0.00 ERA
Bert Cueto	P	San Luis	1961	7 G, 1–3, 7.25 ERA
Marty Martínez	SS	Havana	1962	37 G, .167, 0 HR, 3 RBI
Tony Oliva	OF	Pinar del Río	1962–76	1,676 G, .304, 220 HR, 947 RBI
Sandy Valdespino	OF	San José de las Lajas	1965–67	259 G, .220, 4 HR, 34 RBI
Hank Izquierdo	C	Matanzas	1967	16 G, .269, 0 HR, 2 RBI
Jackie Hernández	SS	Central Tinguaro	1967–68	112 G, .172, 2 HR, 20 RBI
Leo Cárdenas	SS	Matanzas	1969–71	473 G, .263, 39 HR, 210 RBI
Luis Tiant	P	Marianao	1970	18 G, 7–3, 3.42 ERA
Minnie Mendoza	3B	Ceiba del Agua	1970	16 G, .188, 0 HR, 2 RBI
Liván Hernández	P	Villa Clara	2008	23 G, 10–8, 5.50 ERA
Kendrys Morales	1B	Fomento	2014	39 G, .234, 1 HR, 18 RBI
Yennier Canó	P	Havana	2022	10 G, 1–0, 9.55 ERA
Kendry Rojas	P	Ciego de Ávila	2026	12 G, 1–1, 3.39 ERA

In the organisation now

Kendry Rojas, born in Ciego de Ávila in 2002, made his major league debut on 22 April 2026 and has pitched twelve games, 1–1 with a 3.39 earned run average, splitting the season between Minnesota and Triple-A St. Paul.

He is the only one. A sweep of every Twins affiliate for 2026 — Triple-A, Double-A, High-A, Single-A and both complex leagues — returns his name and no other. For a franchise whose scout once signed twenty Cubans a year, that is the whole of it.

Washington finds Cuba, 1913–1934

Cincinnati opened the door in 1911 with Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans. Washington followed two years later, and for the next two decades took it slowly: five Cubans in twenty-two seasons, none of them a regular for long. It was curiosity rather than strategy, and it was the last time this franchise would treat Cuban players as unusual.

Jack Calvo, outfielder, 1913, 1920

A Havana outfielder who appeared in 1913, disappeared for six years and came back for one more look in 1920. Thirty-eight games in total.

Mérito Acosta, outfielder, 1913–16, 1918

The most substantial of the early group: 132 games across five seasons, a .225 average, and a good enough eye that he drew almost as many walks as hits.

José Acosta, pitcher, 1920–21

Fifty games and a 10–8 record for Washington — then a season in Chicago, which makes him the only man to appear on both this page and the Cubans in the Chicago White Sox list.

Ricardo Torres, catcher, 1920–22

A catcher from Regla, 22 games across three seasons, a .297 average in limited work. Twenty years later his son would play for the same club.

Emilio Palmero, pitcher, 1926

Seven appearances in his final major league season, at 30, after earlier spells with the Giants and the Browns.

The Cambria years, 1935–1960

In 1934 Clark Griffith met a minor league club owner from Baltimore called Joe Cambria. By 1936 Cambria was scouting Cuba himself; by the early 1940s he lived in Havana. Over the next quarter-century he signed well over 400 young Cubans to professional contracts — ten to twenty a year, at around $75 a month. Thirty-five Cuban-born players made their franchise debut in those twenty-six seasons — more than the White Sox have had in their entire history.

Griffith’s spending on players fell from roughly $100,000 in 1936 to $49,500 by 1944. Cambria signed Camilo Pascual for $175 after Pascual turned down $4,000 from the Dodgers, and liked to say you could pay more for a hat than he paid for Mickey Vernon, Eddie Yost, George Case and Walt Masterson combined.

This was not a scouting philosophy. It was an arbitrage, and its second half is the part that usually goes unmentioned. Cuban players were cheap and plentiful — and they let Griffith buy talent without crossing the American colour line. As late as 1953 he was still saying “Nobody is going to stampede me into signing Negro players,” by which point his rosters had carried Cubans for eighteen years, several of whom were, in the words of one SABR history of the club, “widely perceived as being black” and were accepted only because they were not American citizens.

Washington did not integrate until 6 September 1954, more than seven years after Jackie Robinson, and it was a Cuban who did it.

Bobby Estalella, outfielder, 1935–36, 1939, 1942

Cambria’s first significant Cuban signing and, for years, the test case. He hit .314 as a 24-year-old in 1935 and .278 across 243 Washington games. His complexion made his presence on a Senators roster a question the club preferred not to answer.

Mike Guerra, catcher, 1937, 1944–46, 1951

A Havana catcher whose Washington service is spread across fifteen calendar years and adds up to 245 games. Between the spells he was a fixture in the Cuban winter league.

Gil Torres, shortstop and third baseman, 1940, 1944–46

The son of Ricardo Torres, who had caught for the same club twenty years earlier. Gil was Washington’s starting third baseman in 1944 and its starting shortstop in 1945 — wartime seasons, but 346 games and a .252 average are real. Father and son, both Cuban, both Senators.

Roberto Ortiz, outfielder, 1941–44, 1949–50

A large, powerful outfielder from Camagüey, 207 games over six seasons. Oliverio Ortiz, also from Camagüey, pitched two games for the club in 1944.

Preston Gómez, infielder, 1944

Eight games as a wartime infielder, and then a second career that outran the first: he went on to manage the San Diego Padres from their first season in 1969, then the Astros and the Cubs.

Connie Marrero, pitcher, 1950–54

The most beloved name on this list in Cuba itself, and the strangest career. Marrero won 123 games in the Cuban amateur league between 1938 and 1945 and was Most Valuable Player of the 1940 Amateur World Series. He did not reach the major leagues until 21 April 1950, at the age of 38, and was an All-Star at 40 — the oldest first-time All-Star to that point. He went 39–40 with a 3.67 earned run average for some poor Washington teams. He died in Havana on 23 April 2014, two days short of his 103rd birthday, as the oldest living former major league player.

Camilo Pascual, pitcher, 1954–66

The best pitcher this franchise ever got out of Cuba, and it got him for $175. Pascual threw 432 games and 145 wins for Washington and Minnesota, led the American League in strikeouts three years running — 1961, 1962 and 1963 — and made five All-Star teams. He won 20 in 1962 and 21 in 1963. Ted Williams called his curveball the most feared in the American League for eighteen years; Tony Kubek said it “would just dive off the table.”

Carlos Paula, outfielder, 1954–56

On 6 September 1954 Carlos Paula became the first Black player to appear in a game for the Washington Senators. He hit .299 with six home runs in 1955, his only full season, and was out of the majors by 1957. The franchise that had employed Cubans for nineteen years took until its fifty-fourth to integrate, and then did it with a Cuban.

Pedro Ramos, pitcher, 1955–61

A pitcher from Pinar del Río with a genuinely brutal record: 78–112, including four consecutive seasons of 18, 19, 18 and 20 defeats. The teams behind him lost 90 or more in each of them. He was an All-Star in 1959 and went on to a decade elsewhere.

Julio Bécquer and José Valdivielso, 1955–1963

Two long-serving regulars of the late Washington years: Bécquer 477 games at first base, Valdivielso 401 at shortstop. Neither hit much. Both crossed with the club to Minnesota.

The other twenty-four Cubans of the Cambria era are in the table above. Most were brief — Luis Suárez and Roy Valdés got one game each in 1944, Vince Gonzáles one in 1955, Héctor Maestri one in 1960 — and that is the point of the arbitrage: at $75 a month a club can afford to look at everybody.

Minnesota, and the 1965 MVP vote, 1961–1971

The franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961 and took its Cubans with it — fifteen of them wore a Twins uniform in those eleven seasons. Four years after the move, the top two finishers in the American League Most Valuable Player vote were both Cubans playing for the same team: Zoilo Versalles 275 votes, Tony Oliva 174. The Twins went to the World Series.

It is the high-water mark of the Cambria pipeline, and the timing is the cruel part. Joe Cambria died on 24 September 1962. Cuba had already stopped exporting players. The harvest ripened after the source was cut off, and there was nothing behind it.

Zoilo Versalles, shortstop, 1959–67

From Vedado in Havana, signed at 17, in the majors at 19 and hitting .153. Six years later he was the first Latin American player to win a Most Valuable Player award, leading the American League in runs, doubles, triples and total bases while playing shortstop for a pennant winner. Gold Gloves in 1963 and 1965; 1,109 games and 87 home runs for the franchise. He was 26 in his MVP season and effectively finished at 28.

Tony Oliva, right fielder, 1962–76

He reached the United States in the spring of 1961 travelling on his younger brother Antonio’s passport — which is how Pedro Oliva became Tony Oliva, and why he did not officially carry his own name again until the late 1990s.

Everything after that was one club: 1,676 games, a .304 average, 220 home runs, 947 runs batted in, all of it in Minnesota. He won the American League batting title as a rookie in 1964 (.323) and again in 1965 (.321) and 1971 (.337) — and he remains the first player to win Rookie of the Year and a batting title in the same season. Eight consecutive All-Star selections from 1964 to 1971, a Gold Glove in 1966, and then knees that took the rest of it away and turned him into a designated hitter.

The Twins retired his number 6 on 14 July 1991. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on 5 December 2021 by the Golden Days Era Committee — the same ballot, the same afternoon, that elected Minnie Miñoso. Two Cuban outfielders who had waited fifty years went in together.

Leo Cárdenas, shortstop, 1969–71

Matanzas-born, already a five-time All-Star with Cincinnati when Minnesota traded for him. Three seasons, 473 games, a .263 average and an All-Star selection in 1971.

Luis Tiant, pitcher, 1970

One season in Minnesota, 7–3 in 18 games, wedged between the Cleveland years and the Boston ones. A footnote here, and one of the two or three best Cuban pitchers who ever lived.

Sandy Valdespino, outfielder, 1965–67

A reserve outfielder on the 1965 pennant winner, 259 games in three seasons. He appeared in the World Series that autumn.

The others of the Minnesota years are in the table: Bert Cueto (1961), Marty Martínez (1962), Hank Izquierdo (1967), Jackie Hernández (1967–68) and Minnie Mendoza (1970), whose 16 games at 36 years old were the last by a Cuban in a Twins uniform for a very long time.

Thirty-seven years of silence, 1972–2026

Minnie Mendoza played his 16 games in 1970. Leo Cárdenas left after 1971. The next Cuban-born player to appear for this franchise did so in 2008.

The reason is the same one that shaped every other team page in this series, and it is not a scouting failure. Cuba stopped supplying players in 1961 and started producing defectors instead, and a small-market club in Minnesota was never going to win those auctions. The four Cubans who have come since arrived by accident rather than by design, and not one of them lasted a full season:

Liván Hernández, pitcher, 2008

Signed as a free agent at 33, 23 starts, 10–8 with a 5.50 earned run average, released in August. Eleven years earlier he had been World Series Most Valuable Player.

Kendrys Morales, designated hitter, 2014

He signed in June, after the qualifying-offer market had frozen him out all spring, hit .234 in 39 games, and was traded to Seattle in July.

Yennier Canó, pitcher, 2022

Ten relief appearances and a 9.55 earned run average. Minnesota sent him to Baltimore that August in the Jorge López trade; he made the American League All-Star team as an Oriole the following summer. It is the single clearest illustration of how thin the franchise’s Cuban connection had become — it had one, briefly, and traded him.

Kendry Rojas, pitcher, 2026–present

The only Cuban currently in the organisation, and the first to debut for it since 2022.

Washington signed more Cubans than any club in baseball because Cubans were cheap, and because for nineteen years signing them let the club avoid a harder decision. Four hundred contracts, fifty-three major leaguers, an MVP, a batting champion and two Hall of Famers came out of it — and it ended so completely that the franchise went thirty-seven years without a single one. Cambria’s Cuba is the reason this is the deepest list in the series. The revolution is the reason it stops.

The rest of the series

Cuba Dugout keeps a page like this one for every franchise with a real Cuban history: Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Miami Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. For the players active right now, see Cubans in MLB 2026. Every one of these lists is drawn from the Cuban Major Leaguers Database — all 403 Cuban-born major leaguers, searchable and downloadable.

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