The scene, as described by 32-year-old outfielder Yadiel Hernandez, through translator Octavio Martinez on Friday, sounds like the one captured in a viral video that made the rounds last September which showed Aaron Barrett learning that he’d earned a call-up following years of rehab from Tommy John surgery and then a fractured right elbow.
There were no injuries involved in this one though, just an equally long, but completely different road to the major leagues, which started in Cuba.
Hernandez played for six seasons with the Cocodrilos de Matanzas in the Cuban Baseball Federation between 2009-2014, but left the Cuban national team during a tournament in North Carolina in 2015.