Yennier Canó

Yennier Cano Banes

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 185 lb.

• Debut May 11, 2022

• Born March 9, 1994 in Bolivia, Ciego de Ávila Cuba

BR page

Biographical Information

Yennier Cano pitched for the Cuban national team and opened 2022 in AAA.

Cano debuted for Ciego de Ávila in the 2013-2014 Cuban Serie Nacional, allowing two runs in five and a third innings. He blossomed in 2014-2015 at 10-5, 3.01 with six saves. He won Game 3 of the finals as the team won its second title. He tied José Angel García and Yadir Rabi for 4th in games pitched (37), tied for 6th in wins (with Yander Guevara, Ulfrido García and Danni Aguilera) and tied Yunieski García and Alexander Rodríguez for 9th in saves. With a fastball that hit 95 mph , he was picked for Cuba's national team. After two solid outings, he came in a clutch situation in the semifinals, relieving Ismel Jiménez in the 7th with two on, two out and a 5-3 lead over Team USA but Tyler Pastornicky hit a two-run double and Yoannis Yera took over; the US completed their rally later to take the game. In the Bronze Medal Game, he pitched shutout ball in the 8th and 9th as Cuba beat Puerto Rico; he got the decision over Raúl Rivera. He finished the Games with a 0.00 ERA in five innings over four games (4 H, 3 BB, 3 K). He tied Jiménez and Liván Moinelo for the team lead in appearances. Only David Huff pitched more games in the men's section of the '15 Pan American Games.

The right-hander allowed three runs in three innings in the 2015 Premier 12. He threw 1 1/3 shutout innings in the 2016 Caribbean Series. In the 2015-2016 Serie Nacional, he again excelled out of the Ciego de Ávila bullpen as the team repeated. He was 8-1 with 12 saves, a 0.91 ERA and 40 hits in 69 1/3 IP (a .91 WHIP). He tied García for third in saves, behind Héctor Ponce and Moinelo and tied for 9th in wins. He then defected from Cuba. In 2019, he signed with the Minnesota Twins for a $750,000 bonus. He split the summer between the GCL Twins (4 Sv, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 11 K in 8 1/3 IP) and Fort Myers Miracle (2 Sv, 2.77 in 8 G). The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had four saves and a 1.08 ERA for the 2020-2021 Atenienses de Manatí, leading the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League in saves. He split 2021 between the Wichita Wind Surge (3-1, Sv, 1.47 in 12 G) and St. Paul Saints (2-2, 4 Sv, 3.86 in 30 G0, fanning 86 in 69 2/3 IP. He led Twins farmhands in appearances, two ahead of Zach Featherstone. He began 2022 pitching excellently with St. Paul (1-0, Sv, 1 UER in 12 IP, 6 H, 14 K), earning him a first call-up to the Show. His major league debut was a very unusual one on May 11th: he was announced into the game in the top of the 4th inning of the Twins game against the Houston Astros at Target Field, but before he could throw a pitch to Martin Maldonado, the skies broke lose and a rain delay ensued, eventually forcing the umpires to suspend the game. So his name was officially in the record books - but without any statistics of any kind for the time being. The game was scheduled to be continued the following day as part of a doubleheader, so it was very unlikely that his presence on the all-time players list would remain like that of Larry Yount - the only player ever to make his debut in similar circumstances - for very long. In Yount's case, however, it was an injury during his warm-up tosses, not a inclement weather, that prevented him from throwing an official pitch. Indeed, when the game resumed on May 12th, he took the mound and pitched 2 1/3 innings, giving up 3 runs on 3 hits. Because it was the completion of a suspended game, all statistics were assigned to the day the game started, so his debut was recorded as being on May 11th. He was 1-0, 9.22 in 10 games for the Twins before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles on August 2nd, alongside three minor leaguers, in a deal that netted the Twins closer Jorge Lopez. He pitched 3 more times for the Orioles but gave up 9 runs in 4 1/3 innings for an ERA of 18.69. Between the two teams for the season, he was 1-1, 11.50 in 13 games and 18 innings.

The start of 2023 was in complete contrast to his struggles in his first taste of the Show, as after 3 games with the AAA Norfolk Tides, in which he gave up no runs in three innings, he was called up to Baltimore and pitched lights out. On April 24th, he recorded his first career save in a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. At that point, he had pitched in 6 games, faced 20 batters - and retired all of them in order, including 9 via strikeout. In franchise history, only Fred Holdsworth had done better, setting down the first 24 men he had faced in 1976. He was named to the All-Star team - a rarity for a rookie middle reliever - and finished the season at 1-4, 2.11 in 72 games with 8 saves. For most of the season, he was the set-up man for closer Felix Bautista, who was also an All-Star, but Bautista was lost for the remainder of the season to an arm injury in late August and Yennier stepped in ably to fill his shoes during the final month. In 72 2/3 innings, he recorded 65 strikeouts, while allowing just 60 hits and 13 walks. He appeared in two games in the Division Series against the Texas Rangers, giving up one run in 1 1/3 innings. Following the season, he was named to the 2023 MLB All-Rookie Team.

Notable Achievements

• 2023 MLB All-Rookie Team
• AL All-Star (2023)

Further Reading

• Do-Hyoung Park: "Yennier Cano makes history (for now) in rain soaked MLB debut", mlb.com, May 11, 2022. [1]
• Mike Petriello: "How MLB's most dominant reliever right now came out of nowhere", mlb.com, May 16, 2023. [2]
• Jake Rill: "As Cano stares down hitters, he's staring down an O's record: Righty becomes 1st Baltimore pitcher since 1976 to retire 1st 20 batters faced in a season", mlb.com, April 24, 2023. [3]
• Jake Rill: "No longer unknown, Cano ready to keep soaring in '24", mlb.com, February 23, 2024. [4]

Related Sites

• Yennier Cano on mlb.com
• BR Register page