Cuban Infielder César Prieto Notches First MLB Extra-Base Hit to Close Out Cardinals' Season

September 28, 2026

Cuban-born infielder César Prieto recorded the first extra-base hit of his major league career on September 27, 2026, tripling in the eighth inning of the St. Louis Cardinals' regular-season finale, a 6-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field, according to MLB.com's official game recap.

Batting eighth as the Cardinals' second baseman, Prieto drove a ball to right-center that grazed off outfielder Garrett Mitchell's glove and rolled to the wall; he slid into third to complete the triple. He later scored on a fielder's choice by Jordan Walker, and Leo Bernal followed with a three-run homer that pulled St. Louis within two runs, though Milwaukee held on for the win, according to coverage by KSDK and Viva El Birdos.

Born in Cienfuegos on May 10, 1999, Prieto rose through Cuba's junior baseball ranks with the Elefantes de Cienfuegos before defecting to the United States in 2021 while at a qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics. He signed with the Baltimore Orioles in January 2022 for a $650,000 bonus and was traded to St. Louis in August 2023, along with pitching prospect Drew Rom, in the deal that sent Jack Flaherty to the Orioles.

Prieto's triple came in just his fourth game and third hit of 2026, a season in which he was called up to the majors three separate times and returned to Triple-A Memphis after each stint, batting .059 in 34 at-bats in St. Louis. In Memphis, by contrast, he hit .308 with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs, numbers that suggest the power he has yet to show consistently at the big-league level.