Yasniel González

Yasniel González Vega (El guajiro)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 214 lb.

• Born May 15, 1990 in Quivicán, Mayabeque Cuba

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yasniel González has played in Cuba and for the Cuban national team.

He debuted with La Habana in the 2009-2010 Cuban Serie Nacional, going 0 for 7 with a HBP as a teenager. He was 0 for 5 in 2010-2011. When La Habana was split into Mayabeque and Artemisa, he got to see fairly regular action with Mayabeque in 2011-2012, hitting .254/.361/.345. That won him a starting role in 2012-2013, when he produced at a .307/.376/.434 clip as a RF/DH.

González took a step back in 2013-2014, hitting .245/.296/.359 in 43 games. He rebounded to .273/.403/.446 in 2014-2015. In 2015-2016, he batted .246/.338/.388. He then did not play for a couple seasons. Returning in 2018-2019, he hit .306/.387/.444. He started 2019-2020 at .339/.468/.629 with 10 homers in 38 games. When Mayabeque did not make the second half, he reinforced Cienfuegos and hit .353/.437/.474 for them to finish the year at .346/.451/.543 with more walks (51) than whiffs (47). He tied for 7th in homers (12), was 6th with 152 total bases, tied César Prieto and Santiago Torres for 5th in walks, ranked 10th in average, was 6th in slugging, placed 4th in OBP and was 5th in OPS (between Edilse Silva and Yasiel Santoya). He joined Frederich Cepeda and Yusniel Ibáñez as the offensive All-Stars.

The Quivicán native hit .338/.481/.565 with 57 RBI and 55 walks (to 23 strikeouts) in 59 games in 2020-2021. He was 4th in walks, tied Alexander Ayala and Yordan Manduley for 4th in intentional walks (12), was 6th in OBP (between Guillermo Avilés and Pavel Quesada) and placed 8th in OPS (between Torres and Prieto). He joined Geisel Cepeda and Dennis Laza as the offensive All-Star outfielders; the league also named an overall postseason All-Star team and he was chosen in left field. In the 2021 Caribbean Baseball Cup, he appeared for Cuba.

Yasniel was at .305/.418/.471 in 2021-2022 and hit .381/.458/.619 with 7 RBI in 6 postseason games. While still a solid season, he did not make the leaderboards. Cuba debuted the Cuban Elite League in early 2022 and he hit .308/.376/.346 for the Portuarios de Industriales & Mayabeque. He hit .305/.418/.471 for Mayabeque in the 2022-2023 Serie Nacional. He made the leaders in homers (14, tied Laza for 5th), total bases (136, tied Jonathan Bridón for 8th), RBI (64, tied Yosvani Alarcón for 4th), walks (62, 4th), slugging (tied Laza for 3rd), OBP (5th) and OPS (3rd, behind Dayán García and Cepeda). He was named the Gold Glove winner at first base though Osday Silva was named the top overall first baseman.

He represented Cuba in three events during 2023. In the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games opener, he pinch-hit for Avilés and was retired by Mexico's Samuel Zazueta. He started at first the rest of the tourney and got his first hit off Jordan Lucas of Curaçao. He finished at .455/.500/.636 with four doubles, five runs and five RBI in seven games, handling 37 chances error-free while his team won Silver. He tied for 10th in runs, was 5th with 10 hits, led in doubles (one ahead of teammates Raico Santos, Yoelkis Guibert and Erisbel Arruebarruena), tied for 7th in RBI, was 5th in total bases (14), was 7th in average and was 5th in OPS. He was 0-for-11 with 3 walks, 2 runs and a RBI when Cuba won the 2023 Caribbean Baseball Cup. In the 2023 Pan American Games, he was 2 for 9 with a walk and a RBI.