Ariel Miranda
Ariel Miranda Gil (born January 10, 1989) is a Cuban professional baseball pitcher for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Chinatrust Brothers. Career. Miranda played in the Cuban National Series from 2007 to 2013. He defected from Cuba to pursue a career in Major League Baseball (MLB). Baltimore Orioles. On May 23, 2015, Miranda signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles on  May 23, 2015. He made his major league debut for the Orioles on July 3 against the Seattle Mariners, pitching 2 innings of relief giving up 3 runs off 4 hits and striking out 4. Seattle Mariners. On July 31, 2016, the Orioles traded Miranda to the Seattle Mariners for Wade Miley. The 2017 Mariners roster was crippled by player injuries, specifically to the starting rotation, and Miranda was one of the only starters to consistently stay in the rotation without injuring himself or being sent down. On June 4, Miranda pitched his first complete game, a 7-1 win  against the Tampa Bay Rays. For the season, he finished with a record of 8-7 in 31 games, 29 starts for the Mariners. He allowed 37 home runs in 160 innings pitched while striking out 137. Miranda was released by the Mariners on July 4, 2018. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. On July 17, 2018, he signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. On August 18, he pitched against the Orix Buffaloes as a starting pitcher, and won the game for the first time in the Pacific League. In the 2018 season, he finished the regular season with  5 games pitched, a 6–1 win–loss record, a 1.89 ERA, and 40 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings. On October 30, he pitched against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp as a starting pitcher, and won the game in the 2018 Japan Series. In the 2019 season, Miranda finished the regular season with 18 games pitched, a 7–5 win–loss record, a 4.19 ERA, one save, and 58 strikeouts in 86 innings. And he was selected to the Japan Series roster in the 2019 Japan Series. On November 28, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks announced that team will not sign with Miranda for next  season. On December 2, 2019, he became a free agent. Chinatrust Brothers. On January 7, 2020, Miranda signed with the Chinatrust Brothers of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. Doosan Bears. On December 23, 2020, Miranda signed a one-year deal with the Doosan Bears that will be worth up to $800,000. On October 24, 2021, Miranda struck out Hong Chang-ki of the LG Twins to record his 224th strikeout of the season. This surpassed the 37-year-old KBO strikeout record previously held by Choi Dong-won. Miranda finished the season with 225 total strikeouts, and won the  Choi Dong-won Award as the league's best pitcher for the 2021 KBO League season. Doosan Bears' left-hander Ariel Miranda captured the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) Monday, earning well-deserved recognition for his record-breaking performance. Miranda led the KBO with a 2.33 ERA and 225 strikeouts, a new single-season record by two. Miranda broke the mark set by the late Lotte Giants legend Choi Dong-won in 1984 and also won Choi's namesake award, presented annually to the top pitcher in South Korea, earlier this month. On December  24, 2021, Miranda re-signed with the Bears for the 2022 season on a one-year, $1.9 million deal.