Reds' Iglesias has 2 homes: Cuba and the mound

SAN DIEGO — Earlier this season, Brayan Pena looked down at his phone and saw a picture of rice, beans, maduros and roast pork. It was a typical Cuban meal, but one that’s tough to find in a Cincinnati restaurant.

Pena’s teammate and countryman Raisel Iglesias sent the photo from Havana Rumba – in Louisville. Iglesias had driven to Louisville from Cincinnati one afternoon just to get the meal that reminds him so much of home.

Wednesday marks one year since Iglesias first arrived in Cincinnati, two days after arriving in the United States – and roughly nine months since leaving his native country behind.

The calendar says Iglesias has been in the United States for a year, but his body tells him the time has gone by so much faster.

“At the beginning, it was very fast for me, because everything was new, and there was a lot on my plate,” Iglesias said, according to Pena who served as an interpreter for The Enquirer. “Little by little, I’ve been trying to adjust, I’ve been trying to adapt myself to a big-league level and especially this organization and how we do things. Now everything slows for me a little more. But I’m very excited.”

At this time last year, Iglesias had just come from Haiti, where he had established residency after leaving Cuba. After two days in Miami, he came to Cincinnati on Aug. 12, where he sat in the dugout at Great American Ball Park and was introduced to the Reds and the surrounding media.

“I’ve always wanted to play in the Major Leagues because I watched it on videos,” Iglesias said a year ago. “I’m happy because I’ve always loved to get on top of a mound and pitch. The fans will love what I do.”

Since that day, Iglesias has had a whirlwind through the American baseball system. From Cincinnati, he went directly to the Reds’ facility in Arizona and started working out there with the team’s rookie league affiliate. He then threw an inning in the team’s instructional league in October before moving on to the Arizona Fall League, to throw his first competitive pitches since July 31, 2013, when he was a member of the Cuban team pitching in the United States against a college all-star team.

Iglesias cruised through the AFL, pitching one inning in each of his seven appearances and not allowing a hit until his seventh outing.

From there, Iglesias went back to Miami, where he’s made his offseason home, but returned to Arizona for spring training in February. Iglesias started the season with the Reds, making his debut on April 12 before being sent down to the minors with the return of Homer Bailey.

He returned on May 12, spinning a two-hit, eight-inning gem against the Braves to pick up his first career victory in just his second start – and showing the promise manager Bryan Price saw when he watched video of Iglesias throwing off a pile of dirt in Haiti nearly a year before. The Reds, Price said, determined that had Iglesias had been in that year’s draft, he’d be picked somewhere in the top 10, perhaps the top five. That’s why the Reds offered him a seven-year, $27-million deal.

After five starts, Iglesias went on the disabled list, and has made five starts since. Overall, he’s 2-4 with a 4.73 ERA, but like the rest of the team’s all-rookie rotation, he’s shown great promise.

Unlike the rest of the all-rookie rotation, Iglesias is doing it in a completely foreign environment and without the knowledge of when he’ll be able to see his family again.

“I definitely I miss a lot of stuff, but most important is my family,” Iglesias said. “I really miss my family, I enjoyed great conversations with my friends, getting together after practice, after games, getting all of us together in my backyard and talk about the game or play dominoes or whatever. Mainly, my family, because I haven’t been able to see them, and that really touches me, because I don’t know when I’m going to see them again.”

He’s found a community of Spanish-speaking people in Cincinnati and has also been aided by the two other Cubans with the Reds, Pena and Aroldis Chapman.

While there are many other Spanish-speaking players on the team, including several Americans, only Pena and Chapman can fully understand Iglesias’ situation.

“I do have a pretty good relationship with all my teammates, but it’s not the same as having those two guys here with me,” he noted.

Iglesias said as soon as he heard the Reds had two Cuban players, he immediately felt relaxed. Since then, he’s peppered Pena and Chapman with questions, looking for their guidance whenever he has a question about things on or off the field.

Chapman had a similar ascendance as Iglesias, coming to the United States after leaving the Cuban national team and signed to a big-money, big-league deal shortly after he was deemed eligible.

Pena, on the other hand, left Cuba at 16 and has now spent half his life away from Cuba. Both Pena and Chapman speak English, although Pena’s is better and more public. Pena even became an American citizen several years ago.

“Brayan has been my guy,” Iglesias said – with Pena interpreting.

The language, Iglesias says, has been the biggest hurdle. He’s working on his English and will even test the Spanish of reporters around the team.

There’s an obvious desire to speak to others around him, as Iglesias seems to have a natural outgoing personality. He listens intently to questions asked to him in English, even if he doesn’t fully understand them. He then uses Pena as his interpreter and often gives long, complex answers that show off Pena’s exceptional memory as he attempts to translate.

“English has been my biggest challenge, but I’m learning. I continue to learn, and I’m not afraid to learn,” Iglesias said. “I just want to get better. I wish I can get better to speak the language. That’s definitely been the biggest challenge for me, off the field, being able to communicate.”

On the field, Iglesias said there’s not too much difference in the game, it’s just elevated.

“It’s easier to answer because this is the best baseball in the world,” Iglesias said when asked the differences on the field. “In Cuba, the baseball system was different. We play 90 games over there, here we play 162 games. There’s more games. There’s better baseball, the organization is much better because the traveling, the food and the conditions. But the biggest difference has to be the talent. In Cuba, we do have great baseball, it’s pretty good baseball down here. Nothing can compare to the big-league level. It’s the best of the best in the entire world.”