Miguel Alfredo González Puebla (September 23, 1983 – November 23, 2017) was a

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

professional baseball pitcher. He played in the Cuban National Series, for the

Cuban national baseball team The Cuba national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Cuba'') represents Cuba at regional and international levels. The team is made up from the most professional players from the Cuban national baseball system. Cuba has been des ...

, and in 2014 for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Professional career

Cuban baseball career

González pitched for La Habana in the Cuban National Series from 2007 through 2009. He played for the Cuba national baseball team in the

2009 World Port Tournament The 2009 World Port Tournament is an international baseball competition held at the DOOR Neptunus Familiestadion in Rotterdam, The Netherlands from July 2–12, 2009. It was the 12th edition of the tournament and featured teams from Chinese Taipei, ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2011 Baseball World Cup The 2011 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 39th international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

s. He was playing for the Artemisa team when he was caught trying to defect in January 2012 and he was suspended from playing in the league at that point. He succeeded in defecting from Cuba to

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

in 2013, and then moved to Mexico.

American baseball career

González pitched in some games for the Toros de Tijuana of the Liga Norte de México as a showcase for American scouts, including those from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. On July 26, 2013, stories in the press reported that González agreed to a six-year contract with the

, worth $60 million. However, the Phillies never confirmed the report and subsequent reports mentioned that the deal might not happen. On August 30, 2013, the Phillies announced they had signed González to a three-year, $12 million contract with a vesting option for 2017. Entering spring training, it was still unknown whether he would be a member of the big league starting rotation, bullpen, or whether he would start the season with the Phillies Class AAA affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Ultimately, he opened the season on the 60-day

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

(DL) "after not exactly impressing in a poor spring"; the official reason for his placement on the DL was "right shoulder tendinitis". Upon returning from injury, Gonzalez ascended through the Phillies' minor league system on a rehab assignment, compiling 54 strikeouts in innings pitched. Used primarily out of the bullpen in his rehab stint, Gonzalez completed his minor league assignment with a 3.11 earned run average (ERA) and .231 opponent batting average. Deemed healthy and ready to begin his MLB career, Gonzalez was activated and assigned to the Phillies on September 2 as part of the roster expansion call-ups. He recorded a 6.75 ERA in innings pitched in the major leagues. A poor spring training in 2015 led to the Phillies outrighting González to the minor leagues and removing him from the 40-man roster. He was released by the Phillies on April 1, 2016.

Death

González was killed in a traffic accident in Havana, Cuba, on November 23, 2017.

References

External links