Liván Moinelo Makes Triumphant Return to Japanese Baseball After Shoulder Injury

August 13, 2026

Cuban left-handed pitcher Liván Moinelo made his long-awaited return to Japan's professional baseball season on August 12, 2026, throwing six scoreless innings in the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' 16-2 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines. Moinelo allowed just four hits, walked none, and struck out five over 90 pitches, 54 of them strikes.

It was Moinelo's first appearance of the 2026 season after suffering a left shoulder injury back in May. The 30-year-old from Pinar del Río also notched the 50th start of his career as an "opener" in Japan's Pacific League.

Hawks manager Hiroki Kokubo had confirmed Moinelo was ready after a minor league rehab outing on July 31, in which the Cuban completed six innings, allowing just one run with six strikeouts, and touched 151 km/h (about 94 mph) on his fastball.

Moinelo returns with a standout résumé behind him: he was the Pacific League's Most Valuable Player in 2025 — the first Cuban to win the award — a season in which he posted 12 wins, a 1.46 ERA and 172 strikeouts across 24 starts. In 2024, he became the first Latin American to win the Pacific League ERA title (1.88) and earned his first Gold Glove in Japanese baseball.

Rumors had circulated early in the year about alleged communication issues involving the pitcher following the World Baseball Classic, a version of events denied by Cuba's National Sports Institute, which confirmed at the time that Moinelo was preparing for his return to Japan.