Pedro Leon shares journey with family back in Cuba

HOUSTON – After calling his father and then his agent to tell them he was finally headed to the majors, Pedro Leon placed a call to a small, country village in Cuba late Monday night. The call woke Leon’s maternal grandmother Esperanza Fernandez, who needed a few seconds to gather herself.

Fernandez had seen Leon star in baseball for almost two decades. She saw him take some of his first swings when he was a toddler all the way to Cuba’s Serie Nacional. Fernandez has been cheering for Leon since he first donned a red, No. 4 jersey of the Mayabeque province’s youth team.

She had waited for Leon’s call up to the majors with as much as anticipation as her grandson. Leon knew she wouldn’t mind receiving a call near midnight back in Cuba.

“It was very late at night, so we had to wake her,” Leon said after joining the Astros on Tuesday. “It was very emotional for her. She was very happy, crying, and very emotional.”

Fernandez attended as many games as she could while Leon ascended from his first youth team to the national team all the way to Cuba’s Serie Nacional, wearing his faithful No. 4 at each stop. Like most of the family members Cuban players leave behind to chase their dreams in the United States, Fernandez was saddened after her grandson defected from Cuba in 2019. 

Long journey to Houston

Fernandez rejoiced in 2020 when the Astros signed Leon to a $4 million signing bonus. Then she waited and waited and waited, just as he waited longer than many expected for the outfield prospect to reach the majors. Leon, who was ranked the No. 3 best international prospect in the 2020 class by MLB.com, finally walked into the Minute Maid Park home clubhouse as a big leaguer on Tuesday.

Leon had played an exhibition at Minute Maid Park with the Astros already. Tuesday, however, was the first time he was an official part of the big league club.

“It felt like home,” he said of walking into the clubhouse.

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Leon was called up to the majors after the Astros traded outfielder Joey Loperfido as part of the three-player package Houston sent to the Toronto Blue Jays for left-handed starter Yusei Kikuchi.

After 354 games over four seasons at Class AAA Sugar Land, Leon was grateful to be in the majors. The road from the Houston suburb of Sugar Land to Minute Maid Park proved longer than anybody expected for Leon when he went from rookie league ball to Class AA Corpus Christi to Class AAA Sugar Land in 2021. 

Busy night for Pedro Leon

Sugar Land Cowboys manager Mickey Storey delivered the call Leon had been waiting for on Monday night. 

“He’s been working so hard for so many years,” Astros manager Joe Espada said of Leon. “Just getting (him) the opportunity, I’m excited for him. He has done things that we’ve asked him to do to make some adjustments in his swing, in his defense. We all know about his speed. I’m just really happy for him getting an opportunity.”

Espada says he likes the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Leon’s speed off the bench. He also notes that Leon can play all three outfield positions well. Moreover, Leon has gained experience in the infield over the last four years in the minors.

Leon had worn No. 13 at Sugar Land. He jumped at the opportunity to wear the number he wore throughout his playing career in Cuba, though. He first picked No. 4 in honor of the legendary Cuban third baseman Michel Rodriguez.

Although he followed the Astros after Yuli Gurriel signed with the team, he didn’t pick No. 4 because George Springer had wore it. When one of the Astros’ clubhouse attendants called him Monday night to ask what number he wanted, Leon was excited to learn that No. 4 was open.

He’s grateful to have fellow Cubans Yordan Alvarez and Aledmys Diaz on the roster. Moreover, he carries the advice Gurriel gave him shortly after Leon signed with the Astros.

“I always had an affinity for this team,” he said. “I especially looked at players like (Jose) Altuve and in this case Yuli, who is practically the favorite player of all Cubans. … Yuli would tell all the younger players to have fun. He would say, ‘be competitive and don’t forget that everything starts with this being a game.’”

Family ties

Baseball is definitely a game. It’s also about family and those folks who have been there from the start. Leon’s father Pedro Orlando Leon Miranda rushed from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Minute Maid Park on Tuesday. 

“He’s always been my motor pushing me,” Pedro Leon said of his dad. “He isn’t just my dad. He was also my coach in Cuba and the one who formed the base of what I’ve been able to achieve today.”

Because of the poor relations between the U.S. and Cuban governments, Pedro Leon knows his grandparents won’t likely ever see him play live in the majors. The pride, however, was clear over the phone through tears and screams of joy.

“They’re always proud to see their grandson achieve his dreams,” Leon said of his grandparents. “They’ve seen the entire process since I was very little, all the sacrifices that you go through. They’re prouder sometimes than even I am.”

And isn’t that what baseball and family are all about?