Super Latino rotation: Marichal and the Cubans

Who are the greatest Latino pitchers? You can choose from Marichal, Cuellar, Tiant, Valenzuela, Martinez, etc. It is a very impressive list.

My top five are:

1) Juan Marichal

243 wins and a 2.89 ERA. He started 451 games and completed 244 of them, pitching 52 shutouts. Marichal has one more complete game than wins. That’s amazing! Marichal’s career was played in the shadows of Sandy Koufax and Warren Spahn.

2) Mike Cuellar

In 15 seasons, Cuellar went 185-130 with a 3.14 ERA, 1,632 strikeouts, 172 complete games and 36 shutouts over 453 games and won 139 games in a 7-year span with Baltimore (1969-75) plus game 5 of the 1970 World Series pitching another complete game. Cuellar won’t make the Hall of Fame, but he is the most successful lefty from Latin America.

3) Camilo Pascual

The most underrated pitcher of his era. He was a 5 time All-Star, starting in 1959 to 1962 and in 1964. He won 174 games yet pitching for bad teams for much of his career, with a 3.75 ERA and 36 shutouts in 18 Major League seasons. Likewise, he led the league in strikeouts from 1961 to 1963 and was among the leaders in shutouts in 1959, 1961 and 1962. He struck out 2,167 batters in 2,930 innings.

4) Luis Tiant

He led the league with a 1.60 ERA in 1968 and a 1.91 ERA in 1972. He won 229 games with a 3.30 ERA over 19 seasons and won 20 games four times, leading the American League in shutouts three times.

5) Pedro Martinez

A three-time Cy Young Award winner: 1997 while with the Expos, and in 1999 and 2000 with the Red Sox. Hall of Fame 2013.

Honorable mention goes to Fernando Valenzuela and Dennis Martinez.

Imagine a fantasy baseball team with a rotation of Marichal, Cuellar, Pascual, Tiant and Martinez. I think that I’ll do OK!

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2 thoughts on “Super Latino rotation: Marichal and the Cubans”

  1. Dominicans don’t concern me, but I would not call the three Cubans “Latinos,” although Hispanics is OK.

    • My preference is Latinos rather than Hispanics for the three Cuban pitchers mentioned. Perhaps caribeños would be more accurate to you?

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