Yard Goats are the current, critical stop on Yanquiel Fernandez’s journey from Cuba to the big leagues

HARTFORD – It started the way baseball starts in Havana’s neighborhoods. Sticks. Beat up old tennis balls. No gloves.

“Just playing in the street with all my friends,” Yanquiel Fernandez said, through a translator. “and we would bet money on something. ‘I’m going to get a hit right now,’ and if you get a hit, you get money. That’s how it started. It’s not only baseball, it’s education.”

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Eventually a cousin noticed that young Yanquiel was cleaning up in street ball, amid the searing heat and steaming humidity, hitting the ball harder, farther than the other kids near Pinheiros Park, and throwing it like no one else in the neighborhood. He told his parents Yanquiel had a future and they began taking him to the big stadiums, nurturing his dreams.

“The game in Cuba wasn’t the same, I was getting stuck, not getting better, I was just another one of the players,” Fernandez said. “I sat down with my parents and told them, ‘I want to experience something else. I want to continue to play baseball.”

By this time, Fernandez was about 15, and getting out of Cuba, if not as harrowing as it was in past decades, is still no easy or simple journey. He and his parents took the leap of faith in his ability, made the trip out of Cuba to Haiti by boat and through the forests from there to the Dominican Republic.

“I’m going to conquer my dream,” he said. “That was my dream. That was part of my dream. I wasn’t afraid because my parents were alongside.”

Fernandez’s mother, Jarmila, is still in The Dominican. He lost his father, William Batista Lopez, two years ago.

“It was very tough when my father passed away,” Yanquiel said. “He told me, ‘son, you’ve got to stay humble. If you’re humble, you will be able to reach your dreams. And I want you to become a big league player.’ And everything I do is in memory of my Dad.”

Soon after he began playing in the Dominican Baseball Academy, Fernendez was discovered by the Colorado Rockies, signed at age 16 for $295,000 in 2019 and now, six months past his 20th birthday, he is at another important weigh station along the road to Major League Baseball, joining the Yard Goats on June 20, hitting cleanup in a lineup with four first-round draft picks most nights.

“He’s an exciting young player for sure,” manager Chris Denorfia said. “He can impact the game on both sides. He’s got one of the best arms I’ve seen in the outfield and his power potential is just off the charts. We get really excited when we see guys who are that naturally talented this early in their baseball career.”

Bench coach Luis Lopez, who often translates for Fernandez, said, “the first time I saw him, I knew he was going to be special.”

Fernandez, an imposing figure at 6 feet 2 and 198, a lefty hitter and thrower, made a July 4 splash when he drove a ball completely over the signage atop upper deck in right field at Dunkin’ Park, the ball hitting Trumbull Street. A few days later, one of his throws from right field to third base was clocked at 103.8 MPH.

“There would not be one ‘wow’ moment,” Denorfia said. “He’s surprised me in the few weeks he’s been here four or five times. Hitting a home run across the street is going to open some eyeballs a little bit.”

After the 2020 season was lost to the pandemic, Fernandez debuted at age 18 in the Dominican Summer League, hitting. 333 in 2021. Last season, he started slowly at Class A Fresno, but finished the season as California League MVP, hitting .284 with 21 homers and 109 RBI in 112 games.

This season, Fernandez played the first three games at Fresno, then joined advanced Class A Spokane, where he hit .319 with 17 homers and 64 RBI in 58 games, too good not to send him to Double-A Hartford, where he hit five homers in his first 16 games. He played in the All-Star Futures Game, getting a hit, but is still adjusting to Double-A, 11-for-55 going into the Yard Goats’ game with Somerset.

“I understand it’s a game of failure,” Fernandez said. “I don’t dwell on one at-bat or two at-bats. Once I’m finished with an at-bat, I’ve got things to do. When I go play defense, I’m not thinking about hitting. When I get back to the dugout, then I’m thinking about my next at-bat.”

Or as Fernandez often tells teammates and coaches, there is nothing to be afraid of, after what he went through to get this far. It’s just baseball.

“The method I’m using with him is just to ask him questions and get to know him,” Denorfia said. “I have no way of imagining the things he’s been through, coming from where he’s come from. If I can just show him I care about him and his story, maybe we can start building some trust and I’ll be able to effectively coach him.”

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Denorfia, the ex-MLB outfielder from Southington, speaks some Spanish, and Luis Lopez and his teammates have helped put Fernandez at ease in his new surroundings. Like most of the Yard Goats, he lives in nearby apartments, buildings he could literally reach with one of his homers, so he walks back and forth to the ballpark. He’s focused on the future, not looking back to Havana or his home island.

“Get up early every day, it’s part of the dream and you have to do it,” Fernandez said. “Right now, I’m just spending time with my teammates, nothing outside. Ballpark, go home, eat, rest, back to the ballpark. Right now, what I have in mind is the big leagues, and what I need to conquer is about being a big league player.”