José Cuas

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José Luis Cuas

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Biographical Information[edit]

José Cuas is a sidearming relief pitcher who made his debut with the Kansas City Royals on May 31, 2022 with a scoreless inning against the Cleveland Guardians. It took a long and convoluted road to get him there however.

He was born in the Dominican Republic but grew up in Brooklyn, NY. Upon graduating from high school, he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 40th round of the 2012 amateur draft, but decided to go on to college at the University of Maryland. He was an infielder at the time and that was the only position he played in his three seasons in college. He struggled as a freshman, batting below .200 with 1 homer, but improved each of his next two years when he led his school in homers both years. That led to his being drafted again, this time in the 11th round, by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2015 amateur draft.

He began his playing career in 2015 with the Helena Brewers of the Pioneer League and in 2016 was promoted to the Brevard County Manatees of the Florida State League, for whom he was the starting third baseman while also playing other infield positions. He looked to be a solid prospect, but his bat went cold that year, as he hit .170/.263/.240 in 120 games. Strong defensive play could not rescue that disaster, and in 2017, he was demoted to the Low-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League before returning to High-A with the Carolina Mudcats. However, he failed to reach the Mendoza Line at either stop and was relegated to being a utility infielder as the Brewers became convinced he was never going to hit enough to progress further. He was still an excellent athlete, however, so they decided to give him a look as a pitcher in 2018.

His first season on the mound was not a great success, as he went 2-0 but with an ERA of 8.38 in 13 games with Wisconsin, being released on July 10th. However, he then signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, and began to work on throwing sidearm at the urging of pitching coach Francisco Rodriguez, the former All-Star closer. He was 2-1, 2.38 in 22 games the rest of the way, then started off 2019 by putting up an ERA of 0.71 in his first 10 games, which prompted the Arizona Diamondbacks to sign him on May 25th for a second go-round in Organized Baseball. He appeared with three different teams that year, the Hillsboro Hops, Kane County Cougars and Visalia Rawhide, with good results. Together, he was 6-3, 1.60 with 10 saves in 26 games, with 30 hits allowed in 45 innings. He pitched in the Dominican League after the season, but appeared in only one game - and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. A number of teams decided to trim their minor league rosters when it became clear that there would be no games that season, and marginal players like José - even those coming off a promising season - were the ones who got the axe. He was released on May 22nd and his career appeared to be over.

He went to work for Federal Express to make ends meet and feed his young family, but his brother Alex, himself a former college player, convinced him not to give up on his dreams of making it in baseball. He continued to work out with Alex in his spare time and managed to find work again in the Dominican League that winter. He did not give up a single run in 6 outings for the Aguilas Cibaenas, and after he went back to Long Island and again started the year with a string of scoreless innings (11 in 5 games), it convinced the Kansas City Royals to give him another look. It was coach Tony Pena Jr., who had seen him pitch in the Dominican League, who convinced the organization to give him a shot. So he signed with his third organization on June 17th and appeared in the Arizona League as well as AA and AAA, doing very well with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and capping his season with 5 scoreless innings for the Omaha Storm Chasers. Overall, he was 5-1, 1.51 in 27 games between the three stops. After another successful campaign with the Aguilas Cibaenas that winter, he was back in Omaha to start 2022. He continued be nearly unhittable, going 0-3, 1.74 with 3 saves in his first 20 outings to earn the call to K.C. In his debut, he struck out the first batter he faced, Oscar Mercado after a long battle, then induced a pair of ground balls - his specialty - to complete a flawless debut. Following the season, he was named the recipient of the Tony Conigliaro Award that recognized players who have overcome important obstacles - in his case his very convoluted route to the Show.

In his rookie season with the Royals in 2022, he pitched 47 times out of the bullpen, finishing at 4-2, 3.58 with 1 save. In 37 2/3 innings, he struck out 34 batters and gave up 24 walks. In 2023, he was back in a similar role, although facing a few more batters per appearance as he logged 41 2/3 innings in 45 games pitched over the first four months. He was 3-0, 4.54 during that span when he was traded to the Chicago Cubs on July 31st in return for OF Nelson Velazquez. He made another 24 appearances with the Cubs, including one start, going 0-2, 3.04 with 1 save. Between the two clubs, his totals for the season were 3-2, 3.99 in 72 games, with 71 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings. He was back with the Cubs at the start of 2024 but was hit hard in 9 outings, giving up 12 runs in 13 1/3 innings. he was placed on waivers and claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays on June 23rd. He was originally sent to the AAA Buffalo Bisons, but the Jays turned around after he had made just one outing there and called him up to take the place of Tim Mayza, who had been designated for assignment, on June 29th. His third outing for the Jays against the Houston Astros on July 3rd went as bad as a relief appearance could possibly go: he came in for Zach Pop with one out in the 7th and was asked to issue and intentional pass to the red hot Yordan Alvarez to load the bases. His first pitch to Yainer Diaz resulted in a two-run single, and his next two pitches hit Jake Meyers and Jeremy Peña squarely in the back, forcing in another run, at which point he was removed from the game in favor of Brendon Little, who got the final two outs without any of the three runners he inherited crossing the plate. After his nightmarish outing, the Jays trailed 6-2, and went on to lose, 9-2.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Anne Rogers: "Converted pitcher Cuas makes it from FedEx to MLB", mlb.com, May 31, 2022. [1]
  • Lynn Worthy (Kansas City Star): "Royals rookie Jose Cuas recognized for inspirational story with Tony Conigliaro Award", Yahoo! News, November 28, 2022. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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