Yosvani Alarcón

Yosvani Alarcón Tardío

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 186 lb.

• Born October 15, 1984 in Jobabo, Las Tunas Cuba

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yosvani Alarcón is a catcher for the Las Tunas Woodcutters and the brother of Yordanis Alarcón and Yosbel Alarcón.

Yosvani hit .298/.316/.466 in 2007-2008, his third season to raise his career average to .291 and slugging to .447. He was the #3 Las Tunas backstop in 2008-2009, going only 18 for 84 with 3 doubles, a triple and four walks.

Alarcón improved significantly in 2009-2010. hitting .318/.361/.639 with 26 home runs and 76 RBI in 85 games. He was 7th in the Cuban Serie Nacional in total bases (193) and slugging (right behind star teammate Joan Carlos Pedroso). He finished 4th in homers behind only MVP Alfredo Despaigne, José Dariel Abreu and Yulieski Gourriel. He led the loop with 14 passed balls but also threw out 34 of 57 attempted base-stealers, leading Cuba in runners gunned down. He was named the All-Star catcher that year though he lost the Gold Glove to Eriel Sánchez.

In the 2010 Intercontinental Cup, he was Cuba's third-string backstop, behind Ariel Pestano and Yulexis La Rosa. He got just one at-bat, late in a 18-0 romp of the Czech national team, and fanned against Marek Červenka (Cuba's lone K of the day). He hit .368/.431/.596 in 2010-2011 and fielded .972, but threw out 34 of 51 who tried to steal. He was 6th in the league in average (between Urmaris Guerra and Serguei Pérez) and led in runners gunned down stealing again (one over Roberto Borrero). He was named the loop's All-Star bsckstop, though Lorenzo Quintana won the Gold Glove instead.

He went 4 for 7 with two runs in the 2011 Pan American Games, backing up Pestano for the Bronze Medalists, though he allowed 3 steals in 3 tries. He was 1 for 4 with a walk, run and a RBI in the 2011 Baseball World Cup as he and Frank Camilo Morejón both backed up Pestano on the Silver Medal winners. In 2011-2012, he hit .314/.370/.518 with 15 homers in 92 games. He was 9th in the league with 183 total bases and first with 11 passed balls. He won his third straight All-Star selection. After three strong years, he imploded in 2012-2013 (.222/.282/.278) and was suspended after throwing his helmet during an argument with an ump; the helmet hit the ump by accident. He was then left off Cuba's roster for the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He hit .274/.332/.375 for Las Tunas in the first half of 2013-2014 then went to Artemisa when Las Tunas did not qualify for the second half and hit .308/.338/.523 in 20 games for them.

Alarcón started for Cuba when they won the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games and hit .286/.412/.500 with five runs in five games while throwing out the only runner who tried to steal off him. His two-run homer off Wilson Eusebio put Cuba ahead in the semifinal win over defending champion Dominican Republic. He tied Francisco Lindor, Alex Malleta and Frederich Cepeda for 4th in the event in runs.

In the first half of 2014-2015, he batted .358/.414/.593, but it wasn't enough to get Las Tunas to the second half and he moved on to Artemisa again, hitting .355/.417/.468 with them. For the season, he produced at a .357/.416/.538 rate with 11 homers and 52 runs in 80 games. He was among the league leaders in numerous areas - hits (5th, between Yadiel Hernández and Guerra), total bases (154, tied for 4th with Guillermo Aviles and Despaigne), intentional walks (16, tied for 2nd with Edilse Silva), average (4th, between Michel Enriquez and Roel Santos) and slugging (4th, between Guerra and Yadiel Hernández). He was named the Offensive All-Star at catcher.

He joined Pinar del Río for the 2015 Caribbean Series and was 2 for 9 with two runs and a RBI, splitting time with Camilo Morejón. As a pinch-runner, he scored the winning run in Cuba's first win, replacing Camilo Morejón in the 10th against the Santurce Crabbers and driven in by Santos. In the semifinal, he scored the winning run again, driven in by Cepeda after being hit by Kendy Batista of the Caribes de Anzoátegui. Cuba won it all for their first Caribbean Series title since 1960.

Alarcón and La Rosa split the catching when Cuba won Bronze in the 2015 Pan American Games; Yosvani hit .369/.400/.632, fielded .969 and allowed one steal in two tries. He was 2 for 3 with a walk, two runs and a RBI hitting 8th in the 7-6 Bronze Medal game win over Puerto Rico. In the 2015 Premier 12, he batted .381/.364/.429 and allowed two steals in three tries as Cuba's main catcher; he had only one run and two RBI in six games despite being third on the team in average. His 8th-inning single off Bayron Cornelisse of the Kingdom of the Netherlands scored Gourriel with the winner in a 6-5 decision.

Sources

• Beisbolcubano.cu
• Baseballdecuba.com
• Radiorebelde
• Ecured
• 2010 Intercontinental Cup Final Report
• 2011 Pan American Games website
• 2011 Baseball World Cup Final Report
• 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games website
• 2015 Caribbean Series
• 2015 Pan American Games
• 2015 Premier 12