Cuban outfielder Yasiel Puig has reached an agreement with El Águila de Veracruz of the Mexican Baseball League (LMB), a source related to the negotiations told ESPN on Tuesday.
According to the source, Puig will be announced by Veracruz on Wednesday and a press conference for the presentation of the player is scheduled for Thursday. The player himself sent a greeting on his account on the social network Twitter confirming his arrival at the Mexican organization.
Thank you Mexico for being here for me once again in my life. Thank you @elaguilabeisbol for this occasion and to open my arms. This #cal salbatic he is grateful and happy to play on the field! pic.twitter.com/htmJWFDGhy
– Yasiel Puig (@YasielPuig) April 21, 2021
“I thank Mexico for being there once again in my life. Thank you Águila for this opportunity and for opening my arms,” Puig wrote in his tweet.
“This wild horse is grateful and happy to be back on the field.”
Puig, 30, was a sensation with the Los Angeles Dodgers in his debut season in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2013 and was with the team in the back-to-back appearances of the World Series in 2017 and 2018, but has not played a game on the Big Show since September 2019.
In his senior year in the major leagues, he managed 24 home runs and 30 doubles and stole 19 bases in 149 games with the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians. In seven seasons, he hit .277 with 132 home runs, 79 steals and 415 RBIs.
Last year, he agreed with the Atlanta Braves to play in the shortened coronavirus season, but the deal was never completed because he contracted the virus before reporting on training.
During the winter, Puig played for Toros del Este in the Dominican league, looking to improve his chances of signing a contract with one of the major league organizations, which did not happen.
The 2014 All-Star National League Championship is convinced that a 2018 sexual assault charge in Los Angeles is one of the reasons that prevented him from pursuing a career in the United States.
In a statement posted on his Twitter account last week, Puig denied the allegations.
“I am speaking now to defend my name against the false and malicious accusations of a woman who says I attacked her in 2018,” Puig said in a statement. “These allegations are totally false, the evidence proves to be false and I look forward to all the facts and the truth,” he added.