By Jim Allen,
Livan Moinelo, who for seven years sought to be Japan's best relief pitcher, said he is using the discipline he has learned here to further master his craft in his new role as a starter.
The SoftBank Hawks' 28-year-old Cuban lefty, who had season-ending elbow surgery last July after feeling inflammation in the joint, explained in April how his time in Japan has empowered him to achieve his goals.
Speaking to Kyodo News before a game at the Seibu Lions' Belluna Dome just outside Tokyo, Moinelo, now in his eighth Japanese season, said adjusting to how baseball is played here was the easy part of his move.
"It (the baseball) wasn't too hard for me," Moinelo said in Spanish. "But the adjustment to Japanese food and the Japanese discipline, those things were hard."
"It was a big change for me. Japanese players train way more than Cuban players, so it was hard."
An import's first experience of Japan is often their team's rigorous spring training, where official practice might run from 8 a.m. to early afternoon. After that, domestic players often work out on their own well into the evening.
"The No. 1 thing (different from baseball in Cuba) is discipline and the extra training that Japanese players do outside regular training time. Cuban players don't do that extra work," Moinelo said.
While he did not elaborate on the food issues, Seibu Lions pitcher Albert Abreu, who went through his first Japanese spring training this year, said, "The work is so hard, and they have the same food every day, and sometimes I just want pizza."
But after overcoming those early hurdles, Moinelo quickly found his feet, keeping batters off his good fastball by mixing in an excellent curve and changeup, and learning from the Japanese way.
"I've learned to discipline myself and work hard in order to continue progressing toward my goals," he said. "My goal for a time was to be the best relief pitcher in Japan and maintain that."
While Moinelo has not become Japan's absolute best reliever, he has been one of the Pacific League's most reliable ones and now seeks to repeat that feat as a starter.
"I am still adjusting to that. I need to eat more and gain weight," the 178-centimeter 69-kilogram Moinelo said, adding that he has been making other adjustments to shift away from how he learned to throw as a boy in Cuba.
"I want to use my core and my lower body and back better. I primarily had been throwing just with my arm," he said. "I want to change my mechanics so that I can maintain my velocity while moving more efficiently."
The jury is out on whether he can achieve that target this year. According to Japanese pro baseball data site Delta Graphs, Moinelo's velocity and fastball effectiveness have both ticked downward so far in 2024.
Still, in his first five starts, Moinelo has a 1.64 ERA, and a 1-1 record with poor run support. But perhaps next year, when he is not coming off surgery, he will be able to take that next step in his new journey.
"It (using my whole body) only became a real goal of mine from spring training. I didn't have time to work on that during the offseason because I had to focus on rehab," he said.
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