Raidel Martínez Pérez

Cuban baseball player for the Pinar del Río Baseball team, who made his debut in the LV National Baseball Series, 2015-2016 as a right-handed pitcher. He has had a good performance in his brief trajectory in these campaigns. He participated in the IV World Baseball Classic in 2017, as well as in the Pan American Baseball Championship U-23 held that same year.

He resides in the town of Galafre Viejo in the municipality of San Juan y Martínez in the province of Pinar del Río.

He completed his primary studies at the Felipe Poey Primary School in the locality where he resides. There he was selected for the EIDE Ormani Arenado Llonch Sports Initiation School in Pinar del Río, where he completed Middle and Upper Middle Education, finishing 12th grade there. Subsequently he enrolled at the EPEF Comandante "Manuel Fajardo" in this province.

From an early age he already practiced baseball in a Special Area of his place of residence. At that time he competed in Pioneer Games. In 7th grade he enrolled at the EIDE Ormani Arenado Llonch. During his time at this center he participated in National School Games and National Youth Games. Later he was in the Baseball Academy and then served in the General Military Service. From there he was called to join the U-23 team until his entry into the provincial team.

He made his debut with the Pinar del Río team on November 30, 2015, shortly after the start of the LV National Baseball Series, 2015-2016, as a right-handed pitcher, occupying this position due to injuries on the team at that time. His team finished in second place in this campaign where during the 85 games of the season, he pitched in 13.10 as a reliever and only 3 as a starter. He lost both of his decisions there. He pitched for an ERA of 4.46 in 34.1 innings of work and, although he struck out 16 opponents, he gave up 11 walks and was hit for 324, so his first experience at the highest national level was very encouraging.

In the LV series he met expectations, displaying a sustained fastball of over 90 miles per hour, despite his team not occupying a good position in the standings. He currently continues with this team in the LVII National Baseball Series.

In the LVI National Baseball Series, where his team did not qualify for the second phase, he was requested as reinforcement by Roger Machado to join the Ciego de Ávila team where he had a very good performance, ranking among the leaders in wins and losses with 5 and 1 and an ERA of 2.61 in 48 innings, and the Ciego de Ávila team reached 2nd place.

In the LVII National Baseball Series, where his team did not qualify for the semifinals, he was requested as reinforcement by Carlos Martí to join the Granma team, performing commendable work with them as they won the National Series title for the second consecutive time, ranking among the postseason pitching leaders in the categories of Games Pitched with 8, Games Relieved with 8, and Games Saved with 3.

His team did not qualify in the first phase of the LVIII National Baseball Series and was requested as reinforcement for the second phase by Industriales manager Rey Vicente Anglada. When this team did not advance to the semifinals, he was requested by Roger Machado, manager of Ciego de Ávila, to reinforce this team in the playoffs.

In the LIX National Baseball Series, his team did not qualify for the second phase, so he was selected by Pablo Civil, manager of Las Tunas, as reinforcement for this team for the championship.

He was part of the Cuba team selection that represented us in the IV World Baseball Classic that took place starting March 7, 2017, which was honored on February 16 at the base of the José Martí Monument in Revolution Square, a day before departing for Taipei, China to begin the preparatory tour of Asia before their debut against Japan at Tokyo Dome stadium. In it the Cuban team could not get past the second round, finishing in seventh place among 16 teams.

He was part of the Cuban team that participated in the Pan American U-23 Baseball Championship, held in Panama, which took place from November 24 to December 3, where this team could not get past the second round in Group B of this tournament, so it did not qualify for the 2018 World Championship.

He was part of the Alazanes de Granma team selection that represented us in the LX Caribbean Series, which took place starting February 2, 2018 in Guadalajara, Mexico, and was honored on January 31 by INDER president Antonio Eduardo Becali Garrido at the foot of the National Hero José Martí monument in Revolution Square in Havana. In it he had a great leading role by becoming the premier closer in most of the games won by his team, which was defeated in the semifinals by the Águilas Cibaeñas of Dominican Republic, finishing in third place in the standings.

He was part of the Cuban delegation that participated in the XXIII Central American and Caribbean Games held in Barranquilla, Colombia, from July 19 to August 3, 2018, which was honored on July 7 at the monument that holds the ashes of the leader of the Revolution Fidel Castro, in the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in the city of Santiago de Cuba, where his team won the silver medal in a game that gave the second spot to the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, defeating Colombia 3-1 at Edgar Rentería stadium.

He was selected as reinforcement for the Leñadores de Las Tunas team to participate in the LXI Caribbean Series which was initially scheduled to be held in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, from February 2, 2019 and subsequently took place in Panama as an emergency venue for reasons argued by the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (CBPC) due to the situation that occurred in Venezuela at that time. Its calendar also changed from February 4-10. In it the Cuban team reached the final but was defeated by the Toros de Herrera of Panama, finishing in second place.

He was part of the Baseball team that represented Cuba at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, held from July 26 to August 11, which finished in sixth place in the standings.

In February 2017, together with Leonardo Urgellés, he signed a Minor League contract for one year with the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Baseball League through the Cuba-NPB agreement. In 2018 he was contracted again to play the next season with the Chunichi Dragons team of the Professional Baseball League of Japan. Although in 2018 he saw action in only 7 games, in 2019 he recorded an ERA of 2.66, with 8 saves and 14 holds, in 43 appearances, which is why the club wanted to renew him, and it did for two years.

In 2021 Raidel Martínez signed a multimillion-dollar renewal contract with the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB), which guarantees him to remain with the team for the following three seasons.

Recognitions

In the selection of the ten most outstanding athletes of the year 2018 in Pinar del Río, it was decided to award three special mentions, one in his favor.