The major league club in the city with the largest Cuban population outside Cuba has had thirteen Cuban-born players in thirty-four seasons. That is fewer than the Yankees, less than a quarter of what the Senators and Twins have had, and it is the most surprising number in this whole series.
Miami’s Cuban baseball identity was never really about the roster. It was about who was in the stands, whose radio the game was on, and which exile community the franchise was placed inside. When the club did sign Cubans it signed them for enormous sums and mostly late — and the one who mattered more than all the others put together pitched four seasons and died at 24.
| Player | Pos | Born | Marlins seasons | With the Marlins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orestes Destrade | 1B | Santiago de Cuba | 1993–94 | 192 G, .246, 25 HR, 102 RBI |
| Liván Hernández | P | Villa Clara | 1996–99 | 71 G, 24–24, 4.39 ERA |
| Michael Tejera | P | Havana | 1999, 2002–04 | 102 G, 11–13, 4.96 ERA |
| Vladimir Núñez | P | Havana | 1999–03 | 177 G, 14–27, 4.79 ERA |
| Hansel Izquierdo | P | Havana | 2002 | 20 G, 2–0, 4.62 ERA |
| Adeiny Hechavarría | SS | Santiago de Cuba | 2013–17 | 599 G, .255, 13 HR, 168 RBI |
| José Fernández | P | Santa Clara | 2013–16 | 76 G, 38–17, 2.59 ERA |
| Raudel Lazo | P | Pinar del Río | 2015 | 7 G, 0–0, 3.46 ERA |
| Odrisamer Despaigne | P | Havana | 2016–18 | 32 G, 4–3, 4.54 ERA |
| Jorge Soler | LF | Havana | 2022–23 | 209 G, .235, 49 HR, 109 RBI |
| Yuli Gurriel | 1B | Sancti Spíritus | 2023 | 108 G, .245, 4 HR, 27 RBI |
| Vladimir Gutiérrez | P | Havana | 2024 | 1 G, 0–0, 6.75 ERA |
| Víctor Mesa Jr. | CF | Havana | 2025 | 16 G, .188, 1 HR, 6 RBI |
In the organisation now
No Cuban-born player is on the Marlins’ major league roster in 2026. One is in the system: Luis León, an outfielder born in Havana in 2006, who has played this season in the Florida Complex League and at Single-A Jupiter. The last Cuban to appear for the club was Víctor Mesa Jr., 16 games in 2025.
The expansion years, 1993–2004
The Marlins began play in 1993 and had a Cuban in the lineup immediately — and then built the 1997 championship around one. In the first twelve seasons five Cubans played for the club, all but one of them Havana-born and all of them products of the exile route rather than of scouting inside Cuba.
Orestes Destrade, first baseman, 1993–94
The club’s first-ever Opening Day first baseman, signed out of Japan, where he had spent four seasons with the Seibu Lions as one of the Pacific League’s leading power hitters. 192 games, 25 home runs, 102 runs batted in before his knees ended it. Born in Santiago de Cuba, raised in Miami.
Liván Hernández, pitcher, 1996–99
He defected in Monterrey in 1995 and signed with Florida for a reported $4.5 million. Two years later he had one of the great post-seasons: Most Valuable Player of the 1997 National League Championship Series and of the World Series the Marlins won in seven games. He struck out 15 Braves in the NLCS on a night when the strike zone became its own story.
His Marlins record was 24–24 across four seasons; the club traded him to San Francisco in 1999, in the dismantling that followed the title. His half-brother Orlando was, at that moment, pitching for the Yankees.
Michael Tejera (102 games over four seasons), Vladimir Núñez (177 games, 1999–2003) and Hansel Izquierdo (20 games, 2002) fill out the era — three Havana-born pitchers, all raised in Florida, all of them useful and none of them stars.
José Fernández, 2013–2016
Four Cubans played for the Marlins in these four seasons and one of them changed what the franchise meant to the city.
José Fernández, pitcher, 2013–16
He left Cuba at 15, by sea, on the fourth attempt, after roughly a year in prison for the first three. He never played a game in the Serie Nacional. The Marlins drafted him fourteenth overall out of a Tampa high school in 2011 and he was in the majors at 20.
Seventy-six games, 38–17, a 2.59 earned run average. National League Rookie of the Year in 2013 (12–6, 2.19); an All-Star in 2013 and again in 2016, when he struck out 253 batters.
He was killed in a boat crash off Miami Beach on 25 September 2016, along with Emilio Jesús Macías and Eduardo Rivero. He was 24. We have written about him at length: José Fernández, ten years on — including the fact, widely misreported, that the Marlins never formally retired his number 16.
Adeiny Hechavarría, shortstop, 2013–17
The most-used Cuban in franchise history by games played: 599, five seasons as the everyday shortstop, a .255 average and a glove that was the reason he was there. He also appears on the Yankees list.
Raudel Lazo (seven appearances, 2015) and Odrisamer Despaigne (32 games, 2016–18) complete the group.
Since, 2022 to now
After a five-year gap the Marlins signed Cubans again — this time as established major leaguers on the way down rather than as prospects.
Jorge Soler, left fielder, 2022–23
He arrived having been Most Valuable Player of the 2021 World Series with Atlanta. A poor first year (.207) and then a very good second: 36 home runs in 2023, an All-Star selection, and the most home runs any Cuban has hit in a Marlins season.
Yuli Gurriel, first baseman, 2023
One season at 39, 108 games, .245. His Serie Nacional career with Sancti Spíritus and his years in Houston are the substance; Miami was the coda.
Víctor Mesa Jr., centre fielder, 2025
Sixteen games, the first of the Mesa brothers to reach the majors after both were signed by the Marlins in 2018 in one of the largest international outlays the club has made. His brother Víctor Víctor has not.
Vladimir Gutiérrez pitched one game in 2024.
Thirteen players in thirty-four years, and the shape of the list is the argument: the Marlins have never had a Cuban pipeline, only Cuban moments — 1997, and 2013 to 2016. The city supplied the meaning; the front office mostly supplied late-career signings. What Miami has that no other club in this series has is a Cuban player who is still, ten years on, the reason people talk about the franchise at all.
The rest of the series
Cuba Dugout keeps a page like this one for every franchise with a real Cuban history: Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, 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.
Spotted an error in this article? Let us know and we'll correct it.
