Baseball Names: Cuba, communism, and the letter Y

I've always had a fascination with players whose parents opted for the 25th letter of the alphabet.
And I don't say this just because names like Yu and Yoenis have been sprinkled through the headlines of this hot stove season.

Seeing players with names like Yunel and Yuniesky run across the diamond simply brings me back to my childhood, a kinder and gentler time -- a time where Americans lived with the specter of mutually assured destruction hovering over them.

I embrace the strangeness of Latin American players with names that sound so . . . Russian. I embrace the Y.

So when Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal arrived from Cincinnati in the Mat Latos deal I quipped that the Padres were building an army of players whose first names started with the letter "Y".  While this was what my gut told me was it reality or merely perception?

And then I read the U-T last week and my senses awoke further . . .

Bill Center of the UT reported:

The Padres have signed two minor league players while recently releasing 10 players from their system.

Both additions were formerly in the Padres system – center fielder Yordany Ramirez signed and infielder Anthony Contreras.

I looked at the name of Yordany Ramirez and thought, If there's a market for players whose first name begins with the letter Y, the Padres are surely trying to corner it.

 Are the Padres stockpiling this seemingly rare commodity? This a dangerous question to ask as it leads to exhaustive research. The recording and interpretation of the data found in this type of research is a process so time consuming one can only ask themselves, "Is this really worth it?"

The answer is obviously an emphatic, NO. But I did it anyways. Because I needed to know Y.

My findings took a turn towards the etymology of names and the psychology of those giving the names. It began at Baseball-Reference.com . . .

At the end of the 2011 season, according to Baseball-Reference.com, these were the individuals who were on MLB rosters who had a family given first name beginning with the letter Y:

Yonder Alonso (Padres) Cuba
Yhency Brazoban (D-Backs) Dominican Republic
Yunel Escobar (Blue Jays) Cuba
Yuniesky Betancourt (Brewers) Cuba
Yovani Gallardo (Brewers) Mexico
Yuniesky Maya (Nationals) Cuba
Yadier Molina (Cardinals) Puerto Rico
Yamaico Navarro (Royals) Dominican Republic
Yoshinori Tateyama (Rangers) Japan
Yorvit Torrealba (Rangers) Venezuela

That's a total of 10 players using the letter Y for their first name. With 30 teams and 25 players per Major League roster there are always 750 active players who have names at any given time -- that's just the way it works if you're someone other than Prince.*

*The Artist not the Fielder.

This means that less than 1.5% of all players claim the Y. This number will skyrocket to 1.6% when Yu Darvish takes the mound for the first time and Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes signs a contract now that he has established residency in the Dominican Republic.

The Ten players in MLB were now recorded but I knew my research was unfinished. There were more Ys out there and I had to dig deeper.*

*This was a catastrophic mistake as I spent a surplus of my time sorting and recording the names of players who will never come close to seeing a MLB diamond. But I did it. And it can be seen [here].

So dig I did.

I found that the minor-leagues were full of Ys -- 126 Ys to be exact. The Ys in MLB hail from the Dominican Republic (71), Venezuela (24), Cuba (11), USA (5), Puerto Rico (4), Columbia (3), Japan (3), Brazil (1), Korea (1), Mexico (1), Panama (1), and Taiwan (1).

While 126 sounds sizable relative to the 10 on Major League rosters today it still only represents about 2% of all players under the control of MLB's 30 organizations. A large number of these Ys are also very young, kids of 17-18 years of age playing baseball in the Dominican Summer League. We're likely to never be graced with their presence on Yankee soil.

An army of Y

The Padres currently have 8 Ys under control (Yonder, Yoan, Yimmi, Yefri, Yorky, Yair, Yasmani, and Yordany). It's an impressive haul but not quite the army I had envisioned. The Padres tally falls behind the Pittsburgh Pirates (9) and the Kansas City Royals who lead the way with 10 Ys.

With he addition of Yu Darvish the Texas Rangers lead the way with 3 Ys on the Major League roster. But it is a curious combination of Ys that have been stockpiled in Arlington. With 92% of the Ys in MLB hailing from Latin America the Rangers plucked 4 out of 6 of their Ys from Asia.

Oppressors of Y

The White Sox, Orioles, Braves, Dodgers, Cardinals, Rockies, and Giants all host a meager 2 Ys each in their systems but it is the Red Sox and Angels who share a collective ignominy. The Red Sox have only 1 (Ynoel) and the Angels don't have an(y)*.

* Haha get it.

The most common Ys you'll find across minor league baseball are (with a wide array of spellings) Yimmy, Yonathan, Yovan, Yefri, Yunior, and Yorky.

The most unique* Ys are Yangervis, Yorfrank, Yacksel, Yeixon, Yucarybert, Yunerky and San Diego's very own, Yonder and Yasmani.

*Clearly this is a subjective statement. Go check out the list and be the judge yourself.

The truest dedication to Y can be found with these guys, who also received a Y middle name: Yonny Yoel Mosquera (Tigers) and Yimmi Yoel Brasoban (Padres).

Those born in America: Yazy Arbelo (D-Backs) United States-Florida, Yordy Cabrera (A's) United States-Florida, Yusef Carter (A's) United States- New York,  Yudelmis Hernandez (Blue Jays) United States-New Jersey. Three of the four players born in the U.S. are of Latin American decent which makes Yusef Carter* a rather unique Y in professional baseball.

*Yusef Carter is also the nephew of Joe Carter.

Those born in Cuba: Yonder Alonso (Padres), Yasmani Grandal (Padres),

Yimy Queipe-Rodriguez (Dodgers), Yaniel Cabezas (Cubs), Yunesky Sanchez (Pirates), Yuniesky Betancourt (Brewers), Yuniesky Maya (Nationals), Yadel Marti (A's) Cuba, Yem Prades (Royals) Cuba, Yunel Escobar (Blue Jays), Yadil Mujica (Yankees)

Why the letter Y?

The Cuban Ys have always interested me because  of the Russian influence on so many. We see it in MLB and on a grander scale on the Cuban national team itself.

We of a certain age all recall and understand the former relationship between Cuba and the Soviet Union and I equated the Russian influenced names (Yuniesky, Yulieski, Yuri) as a tribute to their benefactors. But was there something more to it?

Cuba's use of Y letter names was due to a few varying possibilities but I found that all were connected to either communism or the residue of imperialism.

The Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis conjure memories of a dangerous Soviet Union lurking in America's backyard. This Russian presence would eventually lead to Cuban parents bequeathing a name to their child which was clearly influenced by Soviet military advisers.

As communism took hold in Cuba after the revolution in 1959 Fidel Castro began to fight wars on behalf of the Soviet Union in an effort to further spread communism. These proxy wars were often fought in third world countries in Africa. It is thought that the Cuban soldiers who fought often returned home and named their children African influenced names. Many began with the letter Y.

In trying to explain why so many Y names exist in Cuba and other Latin American countries, such as the Dominican Republic, it is theorized that perhaps the names chosen are a tacit rejection of the country's Spanish and Roman Catholic roots, as many of their residents are of African decent.

The explanation for the letter Y which I find most interesting however, is its use in countering oppression. When a nation adopts communism the individual's creative side is often subverted in the name of what is best for the state. In Cuba, citizens expressed their creativity in the safest way possible -- through the naming of their children. Cuba's creativity expressed through naming rights.

With all of the Ys populating the lower divisions of baseball, whether they be from Cuba, the Dominican Republic or someplace else, the following question must be asked: Who will actually make it to the Major League stage?

With all of the Ys identified perhaps a fine person will do the leg work to create a top ten (or eleven) prospect list featuring the letter Y. Until then we can all dream.