During the U-15 World Cup that took place in Sinaloa in 2014the name of John Oviedo was added to the track sheet of major league major scouts. Back then, the young Cuban pitcher positioned himself in the geography of major league thank you to the speed and control of his pitches.
A couple of years later, he was signed by the St Louis Cardinals with a bonus close to two million dollars.
On the afternoon of this Wednesday, the 24th of May, Johan Oviedo had a small, but great demonstration of why the high expectations generated around his talent.
During the fourth inning of the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Texas Rangers, Johan Oviedo became the first Cuban-born right-handed pitcher to achieve an immaculate inning, that is, with nine pitches that were strikes, he got all three outs.
Oviedo started fanning Jonah Heim, then did the same to Robbie Grossman and left Josh H Smith standing.
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Oviedo debuted in 2020 with the Cardinals during the coronavirus pandemic that forced teams to need more players on a recurring basis due to infections. Lawton’s right-hander threw five innings in his major league debut. In that span he allowed two runs, two hits, walked two and struck out four in an 89-pitch effort, 50 of them strikes.
The Antillean arrived at Pittsburgh in 2022 and has remained one of the best arms in the organization.
BACKGROUND
Oviedo joined Néstor Cortés, the pitcher left-hander for the Yankees, who had a clean inning last season.
The Cuban pitcher struck out Anthony Santander, Ryan McKenna and Robinson Chirinos in the bottom of the fourth roll without missing a shot.
